"How many yards did he throw for?": Urban Meyer reveals Tim Tebow's Heisman campaign impacted his playcalling at Florida

Urban Meyer has a lengthy list of accomplishments as a coach. While on the sidelines, he did his best to make sure his star players would add to their résumés, even if that involved altering his playcalling a little to do so. On Wednesday, Meyer gave a glimpse into a coach's mindset when they have a Heisman Trophy contender.

The three-time national champion head coach recalled such a situation on "The Triple Option" podcast.

"When I had (Tim) Tebow and when I had some of these other guys? Yeah, it did," Meyer said. "...I would actually look at the stats on the scoreboard and say, 'How many yards did he throw for?' And make sure he's at least in the running for that thing."(Comments begin at 43:45)

How did Urban Meyer handle Heisman candidates?

Urban Meyer was no stranger to coaching Heisman candidates and other notable prospects who would go on to make a name for themselves in the NFL.

"Well, we had it almost every year," Meyer said. "It started back at Utah when I had Alex Smith. ... Alex, as the season started to progress, I started to hear the word 'Heisman.' Matter of fact, I'll go one before that. Josh Harris at Bowling Green had such a year that people were starting to vote for him for the Heisman."

Meyer knew he had responsibilities while guiding a team, and taking care of his players as best he could was his main priority, he said.

"As a head coach, safety of players is No. 1, but also getting your best players the ball I would always say is No. 2," Meyer said. But, also, if you have a guy that's a (Heisman candidate), what that does for your school — more importantly for that player — you got to make sure that he's getting his stats."

Meyer said he coached a game at Ohio State in which he told his offensive coordinator not to run the ball in the first half so quarterback J.T. Barrett could boost his passing numbers. Barrett stuffed the stat sheet with the coach's help.

Barrett didn't win a stiff-arming statue, but Tebow did under Urban Meyer's tutelage at Florida in 2007. Alex Smith was a finalist for the trophy during his collegiate career, which ended when he was made the first overall pick by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2005 NFL Draft.