Spring ball is now the last option for the Big Ten, if it hopes to salvage any kind of college football season this year, but Urban Meyer is still unwilling to consider it at all.

The former Ohio State head coach appeared on the Big Ten Network following the conference’s fall sports postponement, but even given different circumstances, Meyer sang the same tune about spring football that he had already been on record with for months.

“No chance,” Meyer said. “You can’t ask a player to play two seasons within a calendar year. When I first heard that I said that, I don’t see that happening.”

Meyer said that in his “very strong opinion,” the human body simply isn’t made to endure the level of wear and tear required to play a fall season almost immediately following the Big Ten’s plan for the spring.

“That’s 2,000 competitive reps, and football’s a physical, tough sport, so I really don’t see that happening,” Meyer said.

Before coming on air, Meyer said he spoke with Ohio State redshirt senior defensive end Jonathon Cooper’s mother. Cooper chose to sit out Ohio State’s postseason run in 2019 after an injury-riddled season in order to have another full year to raise his draft stock in 2020.

Now though, Cooper’s only shot at a breakout season in the collegiate ranks might depend on spring ball.

But even for the sake of a senior in their final season, Meyer said the expectation to play in the spring is too much to ask.

“We recruited players at Ohio State that have a chance to earn a living and play the game and be rewarded for their great efforts, and you’re gonna ask them to play spring football, by the way, then go miss OTAs and not prepare for a dream to go play professional football? That’s not fair,” Meyer said.

The leading tackler on Meyer’s national championship-winning defense at Ohio State in 2014 also chimed in on the spring football discussion on the Big Ten Network Tuesday, and while Josh Perry echoed many of his former coach’s sentiments, he left the door of possibility open a bit wider than Meyer did.

“From a wear and tear standpoint, it’s not totally out of the question, it just doesn’t feel right compared to what we’re used to doing,” Perry said.

Ohio State redshirt junior cornerback Shaun Wade’s parents said last month that their son would opt out of the season if he was faced with playing a spring season in Columbus, but Wade and the rest of the Buckeyes have yet to make any announcements on their status with the team going forward.

For players like Cooper, Wade and junior quarterback Justin Fields, though, logistical issues with a spring season make it likely that their days playing at the Horseshoe on Saturdays are in the past.