🧭 What Urban Meyer Looks for In Recruits Beyond Talent

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Here’s Where We Are Headed Today:

• Urban Meyer on Being Average

• What Urban Meyer Looks for in Recruits

• Favorite Posts I Found This Week

• Free Mental Fitness Links 👇

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5 Attributes Urban Meyer Looks for in Recruits

I got the idea for this newsletter after listening to Urban Meyer talk on the Glue Guys Podcast about what he looked for in top recruits. He talked about how his approach to recruiting changed after a conversation with Bill Belichick.

Early in his career, Meyer would recruit based on raw talent alone. But after speaking with Belichick, he realized he needed a clear, defined system to evaluate players.

From that moment on, every assistant coach on his staff was required to rank recruits in five key categories—on a scale of 1 to 5.

• 1 = Poor

• 3 = Average

• 5 = Elite

And every coach had to put their name on the line when making their rankings.

So what were the five attributes Meyer looked for? Let’s break them down.

For Coaches and Leaders

One of the biggest mistakes coaches, leaders, and managers make is failing to define what matters most.

They say they want the best people or hard workers, but they don’t get specific. Urban Meyer learned the hard way that if you don’t define what you’re looking for, you end up making decisions based on emotion instead of logic. As a leader, you need to ask:

• What truly separates the best?

• What non-negotiables must everyone must have?

• What matters the most to me? And what do we need to be developing?

It doesn’t matter what you are hiring or recruiting for, be intentional. Create a system. Know exactly what you’re looking for - because if you don’t, you’ll miss out on the right people.

The 5 Attributes

COMPETITOR

Successful people in any field hate losing more than they love winning. They love to compete, competition fuels them. It’s not just about talent - it’s about drive, effort, and the will to win.

Want to stand out? Compete in everything. Every drill, every rep, every game.

TOUGHNESS

Toughness isn’t just about physical toughness - it’s about how you respond when things get hard.

• Can you handle pressure?

• Can you push through adversity?

• Can you stay focused when exhausted?

Mental toughness separates the good from the great.

LEADERSHIP

Before you can lead a team, you have to master self-discipline.

• Do you show up early?

• Do you take ownership of your mistakes?

• Do you push others to get better?

Great teams are built with leaders, not followers.

INTELLIGENCE

Being great at anything isn’t just about talent, it’s about understanding the goal and being able to process things quickly.

• Can you process information quickly?

• Do you learn from mistakes and adjust?

• Do you recognize patterns and trends?

The smartest people rise to the top; it’s not just about talent. You have to be both intelligent and emotionally intelligent to be successful on a team.

ADAPTABILITY

Successful people are consistently evolving. They are resilient and have the ability to adjust, improve, and constantly grow.

• New schemes? They learn them.

• New roles? They embrace them.

• New challenges? They attack them.

If you don’t adapt, you get left behind.

What can you learn from this?

Look at the five qualities Urban Meyer ranked his players on. Not one of them is about talent.

He didn’t say he ranked them on speed, strength, or skill. He ranked them on mindset. That should tell you everything you need to know.

• Do you compete like your life depends on it?

• Are you tough enough to handle adversity?

• Do you take ownership and lead?

• Are you a student of the game?

• Can you adjust and keep improving?

If you want to get recruited, get noticed, and separate yourself, it won’t be because of talent alone.

Urban Meyer’s system wasn’t just about finding talent—it was about finding the right mindset.

It’s not about where you start—it’s about who you become.

Favorite Posts I Found This Week

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