Urban Meyer’s Story On Trayvon Martin Photo Abruptly Changes
Urban Meyer’s Story On Trayvon Martin Photo Abruptly Changes
Over the weekend a former Ohio State football player made a serious of troubling allegations about his time with the program.
Marcus Williamson, a fifth-year senior defensive back, went on a massive Twitter rant where he made a variety of uncomfortable claims regarding his stint as a Buckeye.
I’m retired y’all ✌🏾& no I didn’t quit at halftime like vontae davis 😭
— Marcus Williamson (@WW_Marcus) January 2, 2022
As a 17 early enrollee. Urban Meyer told me he’d “ruin my f—- life” if he ever caught me smoking
— Marcus Williamson (@WW_Marcus) January 2, 2022
My first team meeting. (True story 2017) This photo was presented to us via PowerPoint to institute our building wide rule of “no hoods” in the building pic.twitter.com/bGdJVZaEVT
— Marcus Williamson (@WW_Marcus) January 2, 2022
After said meeting—the freshman and myself go to sign the hours of paperwork essentially signing our rights as Americans over to osu and the governing bodies
— Marcus Williamson (@WW_Marcus) January 2, 2022
Participate in your lecture/discussion in your 8 am class after a mat drill at 6 am (arrive a 5 if you’re a freshman). …PROFESSOR My hands are bleeding from the rope pull but you want me to grab my pencil??
— Marcus Williamson (@WW_Marcus) January 2, 2022
In the aftermath of Williamson’s thread going viral, Ohio State football insider Jeff Snook reached out to former head coach Urban Meyer regarding what was said.
“Our team rule was no hats or hoodies or sunglasses of any kind but only in team meetings, just so we could see their eyes and make sure they were paying attention and not asleep,” Meyer told him.
“We did not, and never would show a picture of Trayvon Martin. My gosh, no. That is absolutely false and you can check with any other player on my teams during that time to confirm what I am saying. Other players know what he is saying is false. I would never do that. He is crossing the line here. It seems people are just piling on now. But that never happened.”
On Monday, additional clarity regarding the situation emerged.
The players I’ve talked to said the person in charge was truly uneducated on that situation & really didn’t have any idea the story behind the image. So Marcus isn’t telling a lie about that. It was something that was handled in private. I still stand on my racial stance of OSU
— Tyvis Powell (@1Tyvis) January 3, 2022
By Tuesday, Meyer’s response to Williamson’s claim about the Trayvon Martin situation noticeably changed.
“I didn’t know about it until one hour ago, until after talking to (Powell),” Meyer told Rob Oller of The Columbus Dispatch. “I wasn’t there (in the meeting). None of the coaches were present. It was a support staffer who was in error and apologized.”
Just when it felt like Meyer’s year couldn’t possibly get any worse – it did. Embarrassing viral videos. Allegations of improper text messages and a worse unreleased video. Jacksonville Jaguars players openly calling him a phony. And now this. Yikes.
Williamson recorded 27 tackles this past year before retiring. Because of the push Denzel Burke started receiving, his role noticeably changed and got reduced. That said, just because he has a bone to pick with the program doesn’t mean his criticisms aren’t based in truth.
The photos speak for themselves. https://t.co/k0zuHbsZML
— Game 7 (@game7__) January 4, 2022
It will be interesting to see where this situation goes from here. In a college football season already marred by an SEC reporter being condemned for her overly “exposing” clothing and purposeful bullying of team staff, this is just par for the course.
Ohio State’s response to Williamson’s claims thus far hasn’t been great. Time will tell if that will change in the coming days and weeks.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
