COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said Monday that running back Ezekiel Elliott has apologized to him for his post-game comments criticizing the Buckeyes’ play calling and won’t be disciplined for the Michigan game. Elliott issued an apology while saying he didn't regret anything that he said.
“I couldn’t disagree with him with his comments that he should have gotten the ball more,” Meyer said. “But that’s not the place to do it.”
After Ohio State’s 17-14 loss to Michigan State on Saturday, Elliott said he was “disappointed” in the play calling that resulted in only 12 carries for the star tailback. Elliott was critical that Ohio State coaches didn’t continue to run gap schemes he believed were successful earlier in the game.
“Honestly, we didn’t see those plays for the rest of the game,” Elliott said. “Those plays weren’t called anymore. I asked for those plays to be called, and they weren’t. It just hurts. It hurts a lot because of how we lost. I feel like we just weren’t put in the right opportunity to win this game. We weren’t put in the right situations to win this game.”
And more from Elliott: “It is kind of something we've seen all season, honestly. We’ll have some momentum, we're calling plays that work and then we kind of try to get away from it and try to get cute and run some other stuff.”
Meyer said Elliott has always been “an extremely loyal and great player,” but he doesn’t condone public criticism of his coaches. Meyer called Elliott’s comments “a very isolated incident” and described him as a “very honest guy.” Meyer said he will handle play-calling more moving forward. According to Meyer, Elliott told him there were more comments he made that weren't printed.
The comments created a national debate on whether players should publicly criticize coaches in any circumstance. Former college basketball coach and current ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla posted on Twitter, “If Urban Meyer plays Ezekiel Elliott next Saturday, I just wasted 30 bucks on his new book. Above The Line. Need to do the right thing.”
Elliott tweeted out an apology for his remarks.
"I am sorry for all those offended by the statements made by me Saturday after OUR loss," Elliott wrote. "My intentions were not to point fingers at anyone for OUR failure. I was caught up in emotions. I hope everyone can understand how strongly I love this team and this university and how much I wanted to win that game but I do not regret anything I said. I have given nothing but blood, sweat and tears for this university and team ever since I stepped on campus in Columbus and have always put the team before myself. I don't care if I rushed for 20 yards or 200 yards but I just wanted to win that game. I agree that it was the wrong time and place to say that I was going to leave after this year."
— EzekielElliott (@EzekielElliott) November 23, 2015
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told CBS Sports, in an interview prior to Meyer's press conference, he would have preferred Elliott keep his criticism in-house, but that he has the right to express his frustrations.
“He’s like any other person; he has the right to share his feelings,” Smith said. “I felt bad for him because he obviously was hurting emotionally and he’s a passionate person. Those things are more appropriately dealt with in-house, but he’s got his rights like everybody else. He expressed his feelings and now he’s got to focus on taking care of his business each day.”
Smith said that although he wishes Elliott kept his thoughts private, “we’ve got to recognize today that people have rights and he’s a man growing. He’s going to the next level. Two months from now, he’ll be chasing that dream in a different way (in the NFL) so he has to accept responsibilities with how he handles himself. As he moves into the pros, he’s learned a lesson here and he’ll know how to handle himself moving forward.
“He’s a good human being. The sad part is people are focused on the comments. They should focus on the fact he’s a good human being who expressed his opinion. We tend to make things bigger than they are.”
Smith said the comments don’t suggest to him there were chemistry problems within Ohio State’s team this season.
“Not at all,” he said. “It’s a young man caught up in the passion of the moment. He expressed his opinion in frustration. Everyone in life has done that somewhere -- you, me, everyone. Maybe not publicly. Maybe not in that situation. It doesn’t say anything about the chemistry of this team. Otherwise we wouldn’t be 48-4 (under Meyer).”
Meyer said the Elliott comments will be an "old story" if Ohio State beats Michigan and called the running back one of his favorite all-time players. If Elliott had a history with comments such as this, Meyer said he might be concerned about team chemistry.
"But it's closed, it's sealed as far as our team room is concerned," Meyer said. "I trust our guys."
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