Urban Meyer owes Orlando Sentinel's Jeremy Fowler an apology

Florida Football Head Coach Urban Meyer owes Orlando Sentinel's Jeremy Fowler an apology after ripping into him about quoting Florida Wide Receiver Deonte Thompson. Was Urban really upset about the chance that Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow's value in the 2010 NFL Draft will be negatively impacted?

Urban Meyer was terribly out of line in scolding and arguably threatening Orlando Sentinel sports reporter Jeremy Fowler. When news of the confrontation first came to light, the logical expectation was that Jeremy Fowler wrote something inappropriate about either Urban Meyer or one of his players. For example, asserting that someone committed a crime they didn't do. But that's not what happened at all.

What happened was that Florida Wide Receiver Deonte Thompson was quoted by a number of reporters and is seen in this video below as explaining that...

(John) Brantley is a pure passer. He ain't trying to run; he's just going to straight pass. Any receiver would be happy. You have a guy like Brantley throwing the ball, spreading it around to everybody. ...You never know with Tim. You can bolt, you think he's running but he'll come up and pass it to you. You just have to be ready at all times. With Brantley, everything’s with rhythm, time. You know what I mean, a real quarterback."

All the Orlando Sentinel's Jeremy Fowler did was write blog entry with that quote. This one:

Florida Gators WR Deonte Thompson sounds happy to usher in post-Tebow era

And that's what sent Urban Meyer through the roof. Here's the video where Urban Meyer confronts Jeremy Fowler:



Yes, Coach Meyer cares about his players, but that care has to extend to teaching them when to talk and when not to. As anyone can see, Deonte Thompson ran off at the mouth in talking about John Brantley versus Tim Tebow. That's not Jeremy Fowler's fault. Why didn't Coach Meyer go after the person who made the video? What was that person supposed to do? Turn the camera off?

Deonte Thompson told the truth about Tim Tebow from a valuable perspective: that of a receiver who's worked with him. Even Tim Tebow himself agreed with Deonte Thompson according to the Palm Beach Post:

I think (Thompson) was just saying how it is. (I) might be scrambling for a while, and throw it up to you. Brantley's more of a guy who throws on timing. You know when it's going to come there or it's not going to come there. It's how me and Brantley are. Just stating facts, I think.

And that, the ability to just agree with an opposing point of view, even if it's against him in a way, is one reason why Tim Tebow is so highly valued. Urban Meyer was wrong and should apologize to Jeremy Fowler ASAP.