It's hard out here for a beat writer

I think I may have figured out what the toughest job in the SEC might be.

The toughest job in the SEC is beat writer for the Florida Gators.

At least if you work for the Orlando Sentinel.

That’s what Jeremy Fowler found out on Wednesday when he was confronted after practice by head coach Urban Meyer.

Meyer was upset about a piece Fowler wrote in which he quoted junior wide receiver Deonte Thompson saying that new Florida quarterback John Brantley was, “a real quarterback.”

You know what? That’s not being fair to Thompson. Here’s his full quote from Fowler’s story on Tuesday:

“You never know with Tim,” Thompson said. “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.”

Now, when I first heard the quote and read it, my initial reaction was to say, “Okay, then.”

I didn’t think he was ripping Tebow. I saw it as a way to praise Brantley. Brantley is a more traditional quarterback, and I don’t think that anyone who saw Tebow play the last four years would even deign to think of him as a traditional quarterback.

He just wasn’t. That wasn’t his game.

So Thompson’s comments seemed innocuous enough, and several of the pieces I read from blogs and columnists said the same thing. No harm, no foul.

Unless you’re Urban Meyer, who yelled at Fowler after Wednesday’s practice for having the audacity to…quote Thompson?

Fowler wrote, “’If that was my son, we’d be going at it right now,’ said Urban Meyer, pointing his finger and singling me out in front of about 15 or 20 reporters gathered after Wednesday’s practice.”

According to Fowler, Meyer continued:

“You’ll be out of practice — you understand that? — if you do that again,” said Meyer, while a couple of spectators still sat in the stands. “I told you five years ago: Don’t mess with our players. Don’t do it. You did it. You do it one more time and the Orlando Sentinel’s not welcome here ever again. Is that clear? It’s yes or no.” (finger pointing toward the face)
“Urban, come on. Don’t make any threats,” I said. “That’s fine. I’ll play by rules. But all I was doing is quoting the guy. I don’t think I was the only one.”
“You’re a bad guy, man,” Meyer said. “You’re a bad guy.”

Look, I don’t know the full extent of the issues that Meyer has had with Fowler or other reporters from the Orlando Sentinel.

But it seems to me that Meyer is making a much bigger deal out of this than needed to be.

Defending a player is one thing. Mike Gundy was made famous (or infamous, as the case may be) for his rant defending Bobby Reid from big, bad Daily Oklahoman columnist Jenni Carlson.

But Gundy yelling in a press conference is one thing.

Meyer pointing a finger in a reporter’s face seems to be a bit much to me.

It’s great that Meyer defends his players (although I don’t know if he was defending Thompson or Tebow).

This act, though, seemed like a bit much.

Video of confrontation available here

UPDATE: Now embedded for your enjoyment: