gatorpower
04-23-2010, 12:40 AM
I'm new here. Hello.
As Tebow has developed a considerable amount of backlash throughout college and now into the pros, I wanted to share with you some information that does not usually get out of many non-Gator forums.
It might benefit you.
It might not.
Either way, it's just text on a screen.
I am not going to sit here and tell you he's a great guy and extremely likable. He is, but that's usually pointless when you're talking about football. That kind of thing leads to a condition called “Tebow fatigue”, where everything is so saccharin-laced that you get tired of hearing it. No one wants to read the script for a made-for-television special every day.
This is more to correct the misconceptions about Tebow that I've heard for the past four years from rival fans and other sports media outlets. You probably will hear them from your own fan base for the next few months.
1) “Tebow is not a passing quarterback.” I will concede a couple things here. He holds the ball too long, he only checks down to receivers he's comfortable with and his mechanics for the past 4 years have been less-than-ideal. All of these things can be corrected with coaching. On the other hand, his decision-making ability is off-the-charts and he's a confident passer.
In high school, he broke the state of Florida record book for passing, against passing quarterbacks. In college, he holds the career all-time passing efficiency rating for a quarterback as a 3-year starter. In the past three years as a starter, he was the #1, #4 & #2 rated quarterback in the nation, respectively.
That is better than many quarterbacks who have been drafted in the 1st-round over the past several years.
Additionally, about 1/3 of the teams he faced in college were in the top-25 among passing defenses, out of ~120 teams. This is actually an interesting statistic as Sam Bradford, for example, a quarterback I have a very high respect for, faced only two passing defenses in the top-25 during his career at Oklahoma.
Tebow is #2 in the NCAA for lowest interception ratio in a career; 1.6 interceptions for every 100 attempts. He owns the SEC record by a large margin in the categories of lowest interceptions in at least 200 attempts, at least 400 attempts and at least 600 attempts. He's also #2 in the NCAA for completion percentage in the under 1,000 attempts category.
The SEC did not start becoming a passing league until the mid-80s, but Tebow is the SEC's #3 all-time leader in passing touchdowns, #11 in passing yards, #1 in yards per play and #1 in total offense. That's more than Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford or JaMarcus Russell, among others.
Of course, I could go over his rushing totals and NCAA/SEC records related to that, but I honestly do not think that matters much in the NFL.
2) “Florida just had a great team, Tebow is nothing special.” This is anecdotal, but there is no other way to describe it.
Back in 2006, when Tebow was a true freshmen, Florida was on the road, at Tennessee, their 3rd game of the season, with their 110,000 fans, trailing in late the 4th quarter and facing a 3rd down. The starting QB, Chris Leak, scrambled and slid 2 yards short of the first and Tebow was brought out on 4th and 2. Tebow took the ball, ran right and plowed over a linebacker for 3 yards. I had never seen anything like that. A few weeks later, he trucked over the then-senior and current Redskins starting FS (#6 pick of the 2007 draft), LaRon Landry and carried him 5 yards. In the BCS Title game that year, he ran over 2009 NFL All-Rookie LB, and former Dick Butkus Award winner, James Laurinaitis for 10 yards.
His desire to gain yards was just amazing. The toughest freshmen I have ever seen. His toughness can not be fully appreciated by watching the past two seasons at Florida, where he was restricted by our coach from doing things like that. He was a Mike Alstott who could pass. And I am completely sincere with the comparison. He broke the Florida bench-press record as a freshmen. The only injury he ever sustained at Florida, that he didn't play through, was a concussion during a sack and that has nothing to do with toughness.
On 3rd-and-less-than-six-yards, Tebow converted the first down more than 70% of the time, by either passing or running. Even commentators would call it '3rd-and-Tebow'.
It was not just the supporting cast, he always found ways to make plays work. You hear things like, "will his team to victory". Again, that can not be fully appreciated until you actually see it.
The offensive line isn't blocking, the receivers aren't getting open, the running backs aren't picking up any blitzers, how in God's green earth did this offense move 70 yards to be on 1st-and-goal? There have been dozens of times I, and other people, have said that.
And contrary to maybe popular belief, Florida did NOT have a first-round WR or RB on last years team and you will see no one from 2008 team, save Hernandez at TE, ever make it in the top 2 rounds of the draft that were on the '09 Florida team. Florida didn't really have good personnel at either of those positions. No one stepped up all year. I do not know why. Perhaps it was complacency. But for whatever reason, 100% of our offense was all Tebow.
2) “Who cares if he's a hard-worker, he has no natural talent.” One of the things I am most confident in is Tebow's work ethic. He's a very blue-collar type guy who will do whatever it takes to succeed. I do not think he has the polish right now to be a successful starting QB this next year.
He is a project, but yes, he can throw the ball 60+ yards, I have seen him thread the needle on several passes and I have seen excellent ball placement in the past 4 years. There are stretches I have seen him be the prototypical QB, just watch this past years record-breaking Sugar Bowl performance as an example. Then he'll go through a stretch with some bad habits.
It's not that he doesn't have the abilities. You don't get to be #1 in passing efficiency in a BCS conference by sucking. I think it's only a question of putting everything together and being consistent. And with a guy whose work ethic is like Tebow's, there is no question in my mind that will happen in time.
The thing to remember, in closing, is that Florida is a running team. It's the priority in Urban Meyer's offense. Florida has finished near the top-10 in most rushing categories since Meyer has been here. There were games when Tebow would get less than 10 passing attempts. I believe in '09, there were at least 5-6 games where he had less than 17.
He doesn't get the repetitions that other guys do. He is a great quarterback who was on a team who did not require, or even want him, to throw 35+ passes a game, but he is more than capable of adjusting. He's the ultimate team player. I have no doubts in my mind he'll do whatever is asked of him.
...until next time.
As Tebow has developed a considerable amount of backlash throughout college and now into the pros, I wanted to share with you some information that does not usually get out of many non-Gator forums.
It might benefit you.
It might not.
Either way, it's just text on a screen.
I am not going to sit here and tell you he's a great guy and extremely likable. He is, but that's usually pointless when you're talking about football. That kind of thing leads to a condition called “Tebow fatigue”, where everything is so saccharin-laced that you get tired of hearing it. No one wants to read the script for a made-for-television special every day.
This is more to correct the misconceptions about Tebow that I've heard for the past four years from rival fans and other sports media outlets. You probably will hear them from your own fan base for the next few months.
1) “Tebow is not a passing quarterback.” I will concede a couple things here. He holds the ball too long, he only checks down to receivers he's comfortable with and his mechanics for the past 4 years have been less-than-ideal. All of these things can be corrected with coaching. On the other hand, his decision-making ability is off-the-charts and he's a confident passer.
In high school, he broke the state of Florida record book for passing, against passing quarterbacks. In college, he holds the career all-time passing efficiency rating for a quarterback as a 3-year starter. In the past three years as a starter, he was the #1, #4 & #2 rated quarterback in the nation, respectively.
That is better than many quarterbacks who have been drafted in the 1st-round over the past several years.
Additionally, about 1/3 of the teams he faced in college were in the top-25 among passing defenses, out of ~120 teams. This is actually an interesting statistic as Sam Bradford, for example, a quarterback I have a very high respect for, faced only two passing defenses in the top-25 during his career at Oklahoma.
Tebow is #2 in the NCAA for lowest interception ratio in a career; 1.6 interceptions for every 100 attempts. He owns the SEC record by a large margin in the categories of lowest interceptions in at least 200 attempts, at least 400 attempts and at least 600 attempts. He's also #2 in the NCAA for completion percentage in the under 1,000 attempts category.
The SEC did not start becoming a passing league until the mid-80s, but Tebow is the SEC's #3 all-time leader in passing touchdowns, #11 in passing yards, #1 in yards per play and #1 in total offense. That's more than Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Matthew Stafford or JaMarcus Russell, among others.
Of course, I could go over his rushing totals and NCAA/SEC records related to that, but I honestly do not think that matters much in the NFL.
2) “Florida just had a great team, Tebow is nothing special.” This is anecdotal, but there is no other way to describe it.
Back in 2006, when Tebow was a true freshmen, Florida was on the road, at Tennessee, their 3rd game of the season, with their 110,000 fans, trailing in late the 4th quarter and facing a 3rd down. The starting QB, Chris Leak, scrambled and slid 2 yards short of the first and Tebow was brought out on 4th and 2. Tebow took the ball, ran right and plowed over a linebacker for 3 yards. I had never seen anything like that. A few weeks later, he trucked over the then-senior and current Redskins starting FS (#6 pick of the 2007 draft), LaRon Landry and carried him 5 yards. In the BCS Title game that year, he ran over 2009 NFL All-Rookie LB, and former Dick Butkus Award winner, James Laurinaitis for 10 yards.
His desire to gain yards was just amazing. The toughest freshmen I have ever seen. His toughness can not be fully appreciated by watching the past two seasons at Florida, where he was restricted by our coach from doing things like that. He was a Mike Alstott who could pass. And I am completely sincere with the comparison. He broke the Florida bench-press record as a freshmen. The only injury he ever sustained at Florida, that he didn't play through, was a concussion during a sack and that has nothing to do with toughness.
On 3rd-and-less-than-six-yards, Tebow converted the first down more than 70% of the time, by either passing or running. Even commentators would call it '3rd-and-Tebow'.
It was not just the supporting cast, he always found ways to make plays work. You hear things like, "will his team to victory". Again, that can not be fully appreciated until you actually see it.
The offensive line isn't blocking, the receivers aren't getting open, the running backs aren't picking up any blitzers, how in God's green earth did this offense move 70 yards to be on 1st-and-goal? There have been dozens of times I, and other people, have said that.
And contrary to maybe popular belief, Florida did NOT have a first-round WR or RB on last years team and you will see no one from 2008 team, save Hernandez at TE, ever make it in the top 2 rounds of the draft that were on the '09 Florida team. Florida didn't really have good personnel at either of those positions. No one stepped up all year. I do not know why. Perhaps it was complacency. But for whatever reason, 100% of our offense was all Tebow.
2) “Who cares if he's a hard-worker, he has no natural talent.” One of the things I am most confident in is Tebow's work ethic. He's a very blue-collar type guy who will do whatever it takes to succeed. I do not think he has the polish right now to be a successful starting QB this next year.
He is a project, but yes, he can throw the ball 60+ yards, I have seen him thread the needle on several passes and I have seen excellent ball placement in the past 4 years. There are stretches I have seen him be the prototypical QB, just watch this past years record-breaking Sugar Bowl performance as an example. Then he'll go through a stretch with some bad habits.
It's not that he doesn't have the abilities. You don't get to be #1 in passing efficiency in a BCS conference by sucking. I think it's only a question of putting everything together and being consistent. And with a guy whose work ethic is like Tebow's, there is no question in my mind that will happen in time.
The thing to remember, in closing, is that Florida is a running team. It's the priority in Urban Meyer's offense. Florida has finished near the top-10 in most rushing categories since Meyer has been here. There were games when Tebow would get less than 10 passing attempts. I believe in '09, there were at least 5-6 games where he had less than 17.
He doesn't get the repetitions that other guys do. He is a great quarterback who was on a team who did not require, or even want him, to throw 35+ passes a game, but he is more than capable of adjusting. He's the ultimate team player. I have no doubts in my mind he'll do whatever is asked of him.
...until next time.