Urban Meyer now admits Trayvon Martin photo was used in Ohio State meeting
Urban Meyer said he was unaware until recently that a photo of Trayvon Martin was used in a 2017 team meeting during his tenure as Ohio State coach — after he initially denied the claim.
“I didn’t know about it until one hour ago, until after talking to [former OSU safety Tyvis Powell],” Meyer told the Columbus Dispatch in a story published Wednesday. “I wasn’t there [in the meeting]. None of the coaches were present. It was a support staffer who was in error and apologized.”
Two days prior, Meyer vehemently denied he used a photo of Martin in one of his meetings — an accusation made by Buckeyes cornerback Marcus Williamson in a Twitter thread on Jan. 1.
Williamson, now a fifth-year senior at OSU, claimed the image of Martin was used as a visual aid on a PowerPoint to enforce the program’s “no hoodies” policy.
Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., in 2012. The 17-year-old was wearing a hooded sweatshirt at the time. After his death, NBA stars including Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James wore hooded sweatshirts to honor Martin.
Powell, who played for Meyer at OSU from 2013 to 2015, tweeted about the situation on Monday.
“Got the information regarding the Trayvon Martin situation. It was presented in a freshman meeting regarding the ‘no hoods’ in the building rule. Afterwards it was pointed out how offensive it was to everybody & the person in charge issued an apology & they accept it,” Powell tweeted.
“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.”
On Monday, Meyer explained the team’s “no hoodie” rule while addressing the situation for the first time.
“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 Ohio State reporter Jeff Shook.
At the time, Meyer denied the photo was used before recanting the claim a few days later.
“We did not, and never would show a picture of Trayvon Martin,” Meyer told Shook. “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.”
Former OSU safety Joshua Perry, who played under Meyer, defended the program and complimented Meyer as a head coach.
“Saw a former Buckeye brother sharing about his career last night. We can get into the free labor economy of CFB as a whole, but painting OSU as racist ain’t it,” Perry tweeted Sunday.
“And Urban was a tough ass coach, but he always invested in us as players and people. Just a window into my experience.”
Meyer, who coached at OSU from 2012 to 2018, won a national championship with the Buckeyes in 2014 before retiring in December 2018 due to health reasons.
Last December, Meyer was fired as head coach of the Jaguars after a 2-11 record. A string of negative headlines also contributed to his dismissal.