Ohio State Football: Who Urban Meyer may take with him to NFL

As the Ohio State football team prepares to face Alabama in the National Championship, former coach Urban Meyer is getting an NFL staff together.

The Ohio State football team is in the midst of a National Championship run. One more victory would put a bow on a strange, historic season for the Buckeyes. But as they are set to take the field on Monday night in Miami, former head coach Urban Meyer may just be planning on taking some current Ohio State staff members up I-95 north to Jacksonville with him.

Rumors are swirling that Meyer is currently putting a staff together in anticipation of accepting the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching position. The biggest question Buckeye fans are asking themselves is what coaches or staff members are on Meyer’s list to take with him to the NFL.

Mark Pantoni, currently an assistant AD and director of player personnel for the Buckeyes is probably the most likely of staff members to head to Jacksonville with Meyer. Pantoni, who is Ohio State’s de-facto general manager in charge of recruiting, was brought to Columbus by Meyer and was with him when Meyer was in charge of the Florida Gators program.

Pantoni is from Sarasota, Florida so going back to his home state could be a welcomed change for him. Pantoni has also pretty much done everything there is to do in college, winning three national championships with Meyer and has run one of the best recruiting offices in all of college football. Maybe trying out the NFL game as a scouting director or assistant GM could be appealing to him.

Another one of Meyer’s right-hand men that could join him is Mickey Marotti, assistant AD, and is the Buckeyes strength a conditioning coordinator. He too was with Meyer in Florida and traveled north to Ohio State to join his staff in 2012.  Losing Marotti would be a huge loss for Ohio State as he is said to be the heartbeat of what the Buckeyes do behind the scenes.

Lastly, offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson could join Meyer in Jacksonville if he accepts the job. Meyer has spoken very favorably of Wilson since he came aboard Ohio State’s staff in 2017. Meyer’s initial Bowling Green offense was inspired by what Wilson was doing at Northwestern.

Wilson is not calling plays at Ohio State so a chance to do that in the NFL, especially with Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields could very well appeal to Wilson.

If Meyer takes the Jaguars job he will take some current Buckeye staff members with him. But Meyer is very aware that he would not want to pilfer away everything that he helped build in Columbus. Looks for a few, but not many current Buckeyes to join Meyer in the NFL.