This just keep getting worse for Urban Meyer.
Former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo tells Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times that Urban Meyer kicked him last August during warmups of a preseason game.
The incident allegedly happened during a practice leading up to an August preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys.
“I’m in a lunge position,” Lambo told Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “Left leg forward, right leg back … Urban Meyer, while I’m in that stretch position, comes up to me and says, ‘Hey Dips–t, make your f–king kicks!’ And kicks me in the leg.”
Lambo then said he confronted Meyer about it:
“It certainly wasn’t as hard as he could’ve done it, but it certainly wasn’t a love tap. Truthfully, I’d register it as a five (out of 10). Which in the workplace, I don’t care if it’s football or not, the boss can’t strike an employee. And for a second, I couldn’t believe it actually happened. Pardon my vulgarity, I said, ‘Don’t you ever f–king kick me again!’ And his response was, ‘I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the f–k I want.'”
Lambo’s agent, Richard Irvin, reported it to the team’s legal counsel but the kicker said he doesn’t remember being offered a chance to meet with the couple. However, the team’s legal counsel told Stroud in a statement that it offered to speak with Lambo and “any suggestion otherwise is blatantly false.”
Meyer denied he kicked Lambo, saying “Josh’s characterization of me and this incident is completely inaccurate, and there are eyewitnesses to refute his account. [General manager] Trent [Baalke] and I met with him on multiple occasions to encourage his performance, and this was never brought up. I was fully supportive of Josh during his time with the team and wish him nothing but the best.”
On Saturday, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com reported “months of tension surrounding Jaguars coach Urban Meyer has boiled over with multiple run-ins with players and other coaches.”
Pelissero listed multiple incidents, including a “heated argument” between the coach and veteran wide receiver Marvin Jones. A number of players also reportedly complained to Los Angeles Rams players following a game that the head coach does not treat them like adults.
Perhaps most notably, “during a staff meeting, Meyer delivered a biting message that he’s a winner and his assistant coaches are losers, according to several people informed of the contents of the meeting, challenging each coach individually to explain when they’ve ever won and forcing them to defend their resumes.”
As for Lambo, he kicked for the then-San Diego Chargers in 2015 and 2016 before joining the Jaguars. He remained with Jacksonville until he was released after he missed his first three field goals of the 2021 campaign.
The free agent made all five of his field-goal attempts in four games last year and was an impressive 33-of-34 in 2019.
