Quotes from Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, and Phil Twautwein from SEC Media Days
FLORIDA GATORS
COACH URBAN MEYER
THE MODERATOR: We welcome Coach Urban Meyer.
COACH MEYER: Good to see you. It’s great to be here and represent the University of Florida. A couple of quick comments, then I’ll take some questions.
First, a year removed from playing in the SEC Championship Game, starting our fourth year in the Southeastern Conference, I got a real clear picture of what it takes to compete in this conference and what it takes to be successful at the University of Florida.
We have a very good team coming back. However, the way I’m breaking this thing down and I’m sharing with our team, you’re going to read this quite often, so is our team going to hear it quite often, seven wins comes from talent. You start mixing in a little discipline, up to eight or nine wins. Somehow if you can develop a little leadership on your team, not necessarily seniors, but leadership to get you off the field on fourth down, defense, make a big play at the end of the game to win, that’s when you start having great things happen for your program. So talent wise very solid football team coming back. Some experience. Discipline, much improved outfit than we had a year ago. Leadership is a question mark which probably 117 teams are dealing with right now in America, or however many Division I A programs are dealing with. So that’s the difference.
It’s really not much more complicated than that. You mix in a few 40 times, vertical jumps, guys that bench press very well, that’s how you put a good team together.
I’m proud of our guys, where they’re at, as are most teams in America right now, eagerly await a week from Sunday when they show up.
With that, I’ll answer any questions.
Q. I guess you’re one of five coaches in the league now that have won national championships. Talk about the coaching competition in this league, what you think about that.
COACH MEYER: Well, I came back from the SEC meetings, I want to say it was in June. I shared with our staff immediately. I walked in that room. The thing that catches your eye, I don’t get in awe very often, but I don’t want to say I was in awe, but you look around the room, there are some fine coaches in this conference at any given time, which nine, I don’t know.
I looked around that room, understand I counted right off the top of my head nine programs that they think they’re going to win the conference championship, nine right now. There’s others that could do very well because they’re very talented. Coaches are obviously paid in this conference. Stadiums are filled in this conference. It’s not an opportunity to go blast other conferences, that’s not the business we’re in. However, it is an opportunity to tell you the respect we have in this conference. Once again, any given nine think they’re going to play in a conference championship. I don’t know if I feel you see that anywhere else in America.
Q. I’m sure this is an old question for you, but I’ve never heard you address it. Tim sort of play faking to himself, was there a point in a practice, in a game, when did that epiphany hit you guys or Tim that this could be something that could be a valuable weapon with this offense?
COACH MEYER: We started it at Utah with Alex Smith. It actually goes further back than this. Didn’t quite gain the publicity it guess at Florida. But Bowling Green, we had a young name named Josh Harris, a tailback we moved to quarterback, led the country in scoring for most of the year running single wing plays like we at times here at Florida. Simply it’s low pad level with the offensive line. It’s devastating. When you got that thing coming downhill, to be able to have a quarterback like that that’s a threat. We’ve had great success with that with Josh, with some of the other quarterbacks, Alex, and now Tim, because they’re such a threat running.
Q. Would you talk about the difference between this off season and last off season. Last off season it seemed there were Florida players in the headlines on a regular basis. How much more comfortable are you with this group based on what’s happened in this off season?
COACH MEYER: Well, I tell you, as far as the headlines, yeah, I’m with you on that. But there’s a lot more things I’m worried about what kind of shape we’re in, the chemistry of our outfit. I do believe we’re an older team, more mature team. So that hasn’t been a major issue.
However, I don’t measure our football team by that. I measure our football team by the attitude I see on Sunday, the first practice when we get pads, and about the 16th day of training camp. That’s when you know what kind of team you’re going to have.
Right now our strength coach is really rarely wrong. He is very proud of the it’s a tough deal now. Down in Florida, heat right now running all the gassers, all the wind sprints that everyone is doing. They’ve had a really good off season.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about your experience this summer taking the missionary trip. I know a lot of it was about wanting your family to see some different things. Also, could you have imagined doing that, or how much having seen what Tim does with those things, affect your decision to go do that?
COACH MEYER: Well, Tim has done a lot of things that opened my eyes, and that’s one of them. To have our children experience that, with three other families, it was a life changing experience. It’s something we’re going to, if possible, do every year. In your own little way you made an impact on some people. More importantly, one of my biggest concerns raising a family, that’s not what this whole discussion is about, but having a spoiled group of kids. The tendency is to get spoiled sometimes. They weren’t spoiled for those five days.
Q. Are there any elements to the spread formation that you have used at previous schools that you have not introduced yet at Florida?
COACH MEYER: Yeah, we have a luxury this year. We have two very good tight ends, two guys that are going to be playing football for a living if they stay healthy. So you’ll see two tight ends in the game at the same time quite often because they’re both dynamic receivers. That’s probably an element we have not done a lot of just because of personnel.
Two years ago or three years ago we introduced a fullback. Everybody said, What a great addition to your offense. Yeah, because we had a great fullback. Our fullback is gone. Now we have these two tight ends. We’ve been working quite diligently on putting together a little package with that.
Q. I think it was two or three years ago you stood at the podium and said you wanted Florida to be the fastest team in America. How close are you to meeting that goal?
COACH MEYER: That’s all relative. However, ten flat, you know, meters, typical Chris Rainey, whenever he hears a guy runs ten flat, the fastest 18 year old to ever run track, his name is Jeff Demps, he’s on our campus now, I don’t know if he can catch a ball, but he can run like hell. Chris Rainey beat him in a race the other day. Here are these two catting it. We don’t condone that. We have to babysit them every second. Everyone saying how fast he is so they said let’s go in the back of dorms, let’s figure this thing out. They raced. I guess Chris nudged him out. So we got some speed. I’d like to watch that. I wasn’t there, but I would have liked to (smiling). Could have probably sold about 10,000 tickets for that. ESPN GameDay probably would have been there as well.
Q. You look around on a day like this, almost like a Hollywood premiere with you getting in here. What are your methods to keep a team focused when expectations are so high? On the same topic, keeping fans’ expectations within the realm of reality.
COACH MEYER: The second part, that’s not gonna happen. We’re in an era to even concern yourself with that, you’re wasting brain cells and time. The first part of that question, how do you keep your team focused. The good thing, we’ve had experience with that. This is not the first run where we’ve had a good group of players.
The way we do it is just make it really hard. Two a days are very hard. I like to think as hard as any in America. If you’re worried about the dot com or if you’re worried about which magazine and all this other stuff… Right now I’m sure that’s going on, but that stops immediately next week. We’re not doing a very good job as conferences if we’re not concentrating on Hawaii and the next practice. That’s how you handle it.
Q. You’ve had an unusual amount of attrition at safety. What are your plans going into pre season at that position?
COACH MEYER: Good question. We moved Cade Holliday over, that was not a scholarship player, but played on special teams last year, he’ll contribute this year. Will Hill was one of the very highly recruited guys out of high school. He’s on campus. I look forward to watching him play. I hear good things from our strength staff about what kind of work ethic he has. Ahmad Black is a guy that had a tremendous spring. Right now Will Hill and Ahmad battleing for that spot. Backup behind Major Wright, you have Cade Holliday and another guy. We already met with a player, I don’t want to release it yet, but we’ll probably bump another good freshman player over from offense to defense and let him compete for one of those spots as well.
Q. Can you expand on a couple points that you talked about. You talked about leadership being the difference and you also said that you have an older team and a more mature team. Those two things kind of seem imperative for you to have some success, but they also seem to be if would be older and more mature, that would necessarily mean you do have leadership.
COACH MEYER: I had the opportunity to work for Coach Bruce. He used to walk by senior pictures in Ohio State, the guys up front in the team pictures, senior class. If you can point to that senior class, they all played their best year of football, you probably won a championship. If you point across that room when there weren’t very good players, didn’t graduate, didn’t play very well, you probably had a very mediocre team. So the tie in between seniors playing very well and having a successful team is obviously the correlation that’s very high.
However, with guys leaving early now and our championship year we had four guys on defense leave as juniors, last year we lost Derek Harvey as a junior, I think the shift of leadership has to go from the young players. That’s a big point of discussion with our group, and already has been, that just because you’re a senior, that’s not entitlement. We had some issues a year ago that weren’t very good for our outfit. If you’re a sophomore, you walk the walk, talk the talk, do everything the right way, you’re a leader. It has nothing to do with your experience or how many years you’ve been in the school. It’s what you’re willing to do and pay the price.
It’s almost like the leadership I didn’t understand that when I was 25, 26, 27 years old. The older you get, the more experience you get as a coach. You witness it and see things happen on fourth down five times against LSU last year, we didn’t get the guy down on fourth down because we just didn’t have a guy make that play. The guy didn’t step up. The huddle didn’t get together. Some maybe don’t believe. Some people feel we called the wrong defense. I don’t. I think someone’s got to disengage, get off a block and make a play. That comes from a team that’s being very well lead. I never want to undervalue that and I never will.
Q. We know about Tim, what he can do. You have a talented group of wide receivers with Percy and Louis Murphy. Your offensive line is probably one of the best kept secrets in terms of quality. What do you think is the most underrated part of your football team as you see it right now?
COACH MEYER: Offensive line. Not undervalued by the coaching staff. We have five players that actually you could probably put seven guys out there that you feel very comfortable with. I remember at times at Florida, we had a hard time marching three or four of them, major league, guys that could potentially play in the National Football League. Three seniors. Watkins, Tartt and Phil Trautwein here with us, not only very good players, but all on course to graduate. One of them graduated. All very good leaders, all extremely hard workers. Then you mix Pouncey, the Pouncey kids, you got a good group. Behind them you have Gilbert, Maurice Hurt and a couple other guys. That’s without question the most under publicized, which I’m very good with. They’re very good players.
Q. In the context of leadership, having to come from younger players, how do you evaluate Tim’s leadership capabilities?
COACH MEYER: Tim? I’m sure anybody in here can answer that for you. It’s as good as I’ve ever seen.
Q. Can you update your team’s health status, particularly Harvin, and how important is it for you to have other guys leading the team in rushing besides Tebow this year?
COACH MEYER: Harvin is doing good. I’d say he’s close to 80, 90%, which is still a little bit ahead of schedule. His attitude has been tremendous. He’s bench pressing 400. There’s a part that says line ‘em up at tailback and let him go. I think he’d be one of the best tailbacks in the country. We also have Rainey. Handing him the football, getting him the ball, is going to be a big part of our offense, as it was a year ago.
How do I handle the second part of that question?
Q. How important is it for you to have other guys leading the team in rushing?
COACH MEYER: I hope that happens. I think Kestahn Moore this is the best we felt at running back. This is our fourth season and it’s not even comparable, as far as work ethic, attitude and work level at our tailback position. But also included in that group is Percy Harvin because he is a tailback. When he lines up back there, he is a tailback.
Q. You talked earlier about Chris Rainey outrunning Jeff Demps. He said during the spring that you felt Chris would be a dynamic part of the offense. Would you talk about how you plan to use him this year. Purely a tailback or do you see him in the mold of Percy Harvin?
COACH MEYER: We threw the ball, he made that catch in the spring game. He’s worked very hard at it. I’m anxious to see him. I have not seen him catch a ball this summer. I understand from Tim and the guys, they say he’s catching the ball much better. He is a dynamic player.
I could see using him. I hear that in recruiting, hear is everywhere, the Percy position, that’s the hybrid guy that can do both. I’m hoping Chris can give us a little bit of flexibility, as well as the return game. If he stays healthy, Chris will be a big part of this offense.
Q. You had a couple situations with two minute drills last year that weren’t very productive. Can this offense produce in that situation? How do you make it better?
COACH MEYER: That’s a good question. Can the offense when you say the offense, can the personnel operate in those conditions? They have in the past, they willed the two times I was with you, we had a chance to go down and win a game, it didn’t happen. So we’ve worked hard on it. Someone’s got to stand up and make a play, get us in the right stuff.
We’ve worked hard on it. That’s all you can do. We have worked at it.
Q. You talked about the tailback position. Can you talk a little bit about your new coach there.
COACH MEYER: The new coach? Sure. Kenny Carter came to us from Vanderbilt. Very polished teacher. A guy that has great experience. He’s doing a very nice job. Glad he’s with us.
Q. I believe I read somewhere that you were against the concept of an early signing period. Wanted to get your reasoning behind that. Also just your opinions on the decision by the commissioner not to seek a plus one any time in the near future.
COACH MEYER: The early signing period, there’s a lot of young guys committing early, a lot of young guys putting pressure on us to sign them when you haven’t watched them. A young guy committed to a school that was a backup last year, a backup tight end. In our camp, a tremendous player, but he didn’t play, but he went ahead and committed. He’s in state. So we got a little bit of pressure, why didn’t we offer. I’m going to say that again, he has not started in high school. So what’s happened is everybody is pushing the calendar up. When your job’s on the line as far as quality and character of person, you never really met him, I like to do all the recruiting on the way back. I think I live in a different planet if we think that’s going to continue.
We bit the bait, we’re starting to do it as early as we can invite in ‘10 and get to camp. I’m not in favor of it, but also it’s not my rule. Early signing period will be not a good idea as far as getting to know players.
Q. Plus ones?
COACH MEYER: Plus one? I trust our commissioner. Let’s go. Go team. Go beat Hawaii.
Q. There’s a bunch of Gator fans in the lobby waiting for Tim to arrive.
COACH MEYER: They’re here for Tim (smiling)?
Q. How do you think your popularity relates to him and have you ever seen a player with such a popularity phenomenon, I guess?
COACH MEYER: No, I haven’t. That is a good question. How do I feel? I loved it when I was getting pushed in the back by security in Times Square, physically I was getting pushed in the back because they thought I was like hanging around Tim trying to get an autograph or something. I hate to say this, I was. I wanted to get a Christmas present for my son.
He deserves it. He’s a helluva guy.
Q. I gather you have said that Tim can go down as maybe the best college football player of this era. Can you expand on that. Is there a chance he can go down as the best college football player of any era?
COACH MEYER: I got to watch what I say. That’s maybe how I feel. I’m not going to say that much any more because I have too much respect for Tim and the job he does. The gentleman over here talked about a two minute drill. That question is much more significant than that. I just get excited about I really get excited about great players, I get even more excited about great players that are great people. I love watching Tim play. I believe he’s one of the best players I’ve seen play. Probably enough said from that.
Q. Another Tim Tebow question. I have to imagine the demands on his time, people wanting to be around him in the past seven months since he won the Heisman, are out of control. How much do you get involved in managing that, making sure he doesn’t get overextended?
COACH MEYER: On a different scale, we had to deal with that as Chris as well as Alex Smith. Dan Mullens is like a mother hen who really watches that. Our SID department does a super job with that. He’s had three breaks. He had spring break. He had the summer break. Between summer A and B, he went out of the country three times on mission trips. That’s his spare time. Other than that he’s trying to load up on classes in the summer because he wants a lighter load in the fall.
A non issue as far as him being focused. I do worry about people pulling at him. I try to give my advice and talk to him. He’s got his head on straight. And he gets a lot of people. I give credit to people understanding. They back off him because they understand he’s not a he’s a very serious person with his job.
Q. When you said? In the spring you might talk to some other coaches about how they handled it when they had a returning Heisman winner coming back, wondered if you had a chance to do that?
COACH MEYER: No, I haven’t. I just spent time with Tim. I think we have very good people at Florida. We’ve handled it very well. We had a great summer. Tim has stayed on course.
Q. Because of the almost rock star phenomenon that seems to follow this team, have you had to learn how to deal with it differently than you have with past teams?
COACH MEYER: To be honest, I felt it more last year after the year we had. So, no, I just like to go to work, work on football. I haven’t had my hands on the team. That’s the most discouraging thing in the summer. All the coaches say this, from the end of spring practice until now, other than having them come up to my office, seeing them, talking to them, they don’t want team meetings. I’m certainly not allowed to go watch them work out. When I get my hands on them, I look forward to that on a week from Sunday. Now they’re ours. We go in a hotel together. We spend three weeks together. That’s when you really build a team. Right now they’re lifting like everybody else. The true building is going to go on here a week from Sunday.
Q. Is it better that Tim does less this year? Maybe it’s okay he doesn’t win the Heisman, he doesn’t lower his shoulder as much. In the big picture, you guys might be better if he doesn’t.
COACH MEYER: Only one way to judge it. On the left hand the column, you get it or you don’t. Are we gonna try to if Chris Rainey becomes a very good player, he’ll take maybe a couple carries away from him. Percy is 205 pounds now. Last year he was 185. We rocked him up.
But the bottom line is that has no bearing on the calling of a game. You have to win that game. One of the great chores I have that I’ve done for seven years, I sit in my room two hours before that game, right before we get on the bus, every year I’ve done it. I grab my sheet of paper and I list the ball carriers that need to touch the ball, receivers, quarterbacks, whatever. I put slashes next to who deserves to carry the ball. I carry that with me during the game.
I’m happy to say this year it will be more runningbacks than we’ve ever had with slashes next to their name if everybody stays healthy.
Q. Which rule changes do you think are the most significant going into the season?
COACH MEYER: Rule changes? The clock rule, it’s the third one in three years, I don’t want to get started on that, because I don’t agree with it. Whether the rule works, I’m not really concerned about that. You keep moving that hat around a little bit. Now the coaches have to relearn a rule. I think that’s going to have an impact on the game. How significant? I have no idea. Is it more significant two years ago than last year or it will be the year after? I don’t know. It just keeps changing. It bothers me.
Other than that, I think the face mask penalty, that’s not an issue. Off the top of my head, I don’t what other significant rule change is there?
Q. Coach challenges.
COACH MEYER: When they warn your bench, they throw a flag on you. I have to shut my mouth and back up, I guess. Other than that…
I didn’t see anything real significant other than the clock.
Q. And the challenges?
COACH MEYER: I don’t know if I ever used a challenge. I think the SEC has pretty good officials. The system is supposed to take care of itself. They replay every play. I like the way we do it.
Q. All things considered, is Brandon Spikes’ leadership more important to the team’s success this year than Tebow’s?
COACH MEYER: That’s a great question. I’d probably agree with that. You’re asking me the question, I’d probably say yes. I thought about that quite often. That’s a big part of our success. It was a void last year. Brandon Spikes is a great player. Could be a great leader. That’s going to be a big part of our success, if that happens.
Q. How has he changed?
COACH MEYER: He’s had a great off season. He looks the part now. He’s ready to go.
Q. Do you feel better about defensive tackle at this point? Also, if the tackles don’t come through as you hoped for, is there a chance you would move Mike Pouncey back to the defensive line?
COACH MEYER: I don’t believe we’ll move Mike Pouncey. Never say never. Or defensive tackle position, I like our coach there. I like the fact they have improved. I like the fact that Sanders and Marsh have had good off seasons along with Epps is among the most improved players on our team. Omar Hunter is on campus and Matt Patch, we moved him inside. There are some options that are untested. That’s going to be I’m going every day I’m going to watch them practice. Get down there with individual drills. I think that’s a secret to if we have a successful defense or not if they play. But you can’t move Mike Mike Pouncey, he’ll be upset when I tell this. He wasn’t very good over there on defense. He thought he was good. He did this a lot, got the crowd going (lifting his arms). But he’s not what you need to play great defense. He’s an offensive guard, and a very good one.
Q. At some points last season, did you run double team blocks at both sides of the point of attack for Tebow? Do you have any single wing in your background anywhere, way back?
COACH MEYER: Single wing? No, I don’t believe I have seen single wing. I studied it as we just developed it when we were at Bowling Green.
The second part, I’m not sure we got that play. That’s a good one, though (smiling). I don’t understand the question.
Q. Did you at any time last season double team on both sides of the point of attack for Tebow?
COACH MEYER: Sure, sure. We do double team on both sides. That’s one of our biggest plays. To answer your question, yes.
Q. When Coach Heater last went to Haiti, he talked about how appreciative he should be. On your trip, were there some things that made you say, Wow?
COACH MEYER: Every day. Every day it makes you feel very appreciative of what you’ve got. Absolutely. If you’ve never done that kind of thing, I just can’t that’s a whole other press conference in itself, a whole other time itself. Did we see anything that was a wow and make you really reflect and be thankful? Probably 600, 700 times a day you did that. That’s how good it was.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.
Quarterback Tim Tebow:
THE MODERATOR: Tim, maybe you can make an opening statement and then we’ll take some questions.
TIM TEBOW: How y’all doing today? I need a response (smiling)? I was told to make an opening statement about the season. So I guess I’ll begin by doing that.
Well, I’m looking forward to it. You know, this off season has been great. Had a lot of fun. But I can’t wait for the season to get here. We’re very excited about it. We like our chances. We think we’ve got a lot of talent. We’re very excited and we hope that everything will turn out the way we’ve anticipated it. But you never know. It starts in a few weeks with two a days. We’re looking to get that team chemistry right, our work ethic up there. Who knows what’s going to happen, but we’re excited about this season and looking forward to all the games that are gonna come our way.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions.
Q. Could you describe some of the things you did in the off season, particularly with some detail what you did in the Philippines and the prisons you visited.
TIM TEBOW: Yes, I can talk about that.
I have been a lot of places this off season. Been a lot of fun for me. Bit a little bit of a whirlwind, but at the same time a lot of fun.
We had three breaks. For those three breaks I went to the Philippines, Croatia and Thailand on three mission trips. All three of those places I got to do a lot of very neat things, preaching in prisons, in schools, in hospitals, in marketplaces. I’m sure I’ll get asked about the circumcisions, helping perform surgeries over there. But it was a great experience for me. It’s something I enjoyed doing, I love doing. It’s something I’m very passionate about.
The reason I do it is because it’s more important than football to me. Doing those things, taking my platform as a football player and using it for good, using it to be an influence and change people’s lives, that’s more important than football to me.
I can take what I do in playing football as a game and change people’s lives with it. That’s why football is such a great game. That’s kind of why I do the things, preaching in prisons, doing those different things, trying to take advantage of that platform that God has blessed me with.
Q. Have you gotten a chance to talk to any of the Heisman winners who have come back the following season? If so, any advice they gave you about what to expect next year?
TIM TEBOW: I have gotten to talk to a few. I got to talk to a lot of wise people as far as that goes. I got a lot of great advice.
I think everybody’s situation has been a little bit different as far as coming back. A lot of people ask me about the pressure, don’t buy into it. At the University of Florida, every year there’s gonna be pressure. No matter what happened the previous year, what trophies you won, it’s the University of Florida. The quarterback’s always gonna have pressure.
I don’t really care too much about it. I’ve never really been one to worry about pressure too much. I’m just going out there, playing a sport that I love and I’m very passionate about. What pressure do I have? I’m excited about the season. I’m not worried about what’s gonna happen or if I can repeat, anything like that. I love playing. So I think when you love playing as much as I do, you’re as passionate about it, you don’t worry about the negative or the naysayers, what people are going to say. You just look at the positive. Hey, I’m getting to get a free education, go play football at a university that I love, and a sport that I love.
I’m truly blessed. I don’t look at the negative and see what bad could happen, I see all the positive involved.
Q. Did you witness the Rainey and Demps race? If you didn’t, have you heard about it?
TIM TEBOW: I didn’t witness it, but I heard a lot about it (laughter). It was interesting. There were a lot of false starts and everything. But from what I heard, Rainey, he did win in the 40. That’s pretty unbelievable ‘cause Demps is one of the fastest men in the country or in the world probably. So for Rainey to beat him in the 40 yard dash, that says a lot about how fast he is.
Q. When you were in the Philippines and Thailand, do you have some unorthodox training regimes you do? What do you do to stay in shape?
TIM TEBOW: Well, actually, you know, when we go on those breaks, that’s our off weeks, so we’re supposed to rest. I didn’t really do too much of that when we were over there. It’s really cool because you do get to do a lot of unique training, running up mountains, running up steps, running on hills, doing all types of cool things like that.
I really got to have unique training and fun training. I really try to take those opportunities and improve myself when I know other people aren’t really working at that time, and I’m in some other country. It’s kind of motivating. You try to train, I don’t know, Rocky style a little bit. It’s pretty cool. I enjoy doing it. I guess I could say I like trained in four countries getting ready for this year, so that’s pretty cool.
Q. You have so many obligations. Are there days you just wish you could clone yourself?
TIM TEBOW: You know, to be a hundred percent honest, some days, yes, sir. Some days you don’t feel like doing everything. Those are just the pros and cons that come with what you do and how you do it.
I’ve been blessed to have some success at the college level so I have more obligations and more things I have to do. Sometimes you don’t want to do that. You just want to be a college student, relax or something.
But at the same time, you know, your body might say you want to rest, you don’t want to do that. But when I really sit down and think about it, I want to do those things ‘cause those things are more important than playing football for me. Going and speaking in a prison is more important for me. Going to speak to a youth organization is more important to me than winning or playing a game.
I mean, most people are like, That doesn’t make sense to me. If I can change a kid’s life for the better, that’s much more important to me than going out there and beating Georgia or Florida State or whatever team it is. That’s very special to me, but it doesn’t come close to having the ability to put a smile on a kid’s face or go to a hospital and see a girl who is about to die, see her smile because you’re there to see her. I mean, you can’t put a price on it, on what that does for me. Most of the time when I go see kids like that or do something like that, it does more for me than I do for that person. So you can’t really put a price on it because it’s experiences that are more than just obligations or more than just, I have to go do something. It’s much more special than that.
Q. I imagine when you’re back in Gainesville or Jacksonville, everywhere you go people are swarming you whether it’s at the mall or Wal Mart. Are there any encounters that stand out?
TIM TEBOW: I don’t go to the mall or Wal Mart too often because of that (smiling). But there’s been some interesting experiences, some inappropriate as well that I can’t really mention. But, you know, there have been, you know, definitely a handful of them that you kind of just got to prepare yourself for and get used to ‘cause some people are willing to do anything so… (Laughter).
Q. Do you bring the Heisman Trophy with you wherever you go?
TIM TEBOW: Everywhere (smiling). No.
Q. Have you brought it anywhere else?
TIM TEBOW: No, nowhere.
Q. What went into bringing it here and how did that happen?
TIM TEBOW: Bringing it where?
Q. Here?
TIM TEBOW: It’s here? I didn’t know that. That might be the university’s trophy. I don’t know. I think ours is still in my house in Jacksonville. I don’t think they moved it (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: To clarify, Nissan, SEC corporate sponsor, brought that.
Q. What do you think you need to do this year to get better?
TIM TEBOW: What can I do this year to get better? A lot. Last year in several ways it was very disappointing for us. Number one, losing four games. So my biggest goal this year as far as football goes was becoming a better decision maker. What that entails is when I approach the line of scrimmage, it’s recognizing defenses faster, getting us into a better play faster. When the play happens, when I’m dropping back, maybe not always have to make the big play, don’t always have to run somebody over. Maybe get down, I didn’t say slide, but get down or maybe step out of bounds, just be smart with the decisions that I make on the field. That will help out a lot.
I mean, that’s what separates Tom Brady and Peyton Manning from every other quarterback, is their decision making. They’re not more blessed as far as athletic ability; they just make better decisions on the field. They’re more knowledgeable about the game. That’s been my No. 1 focus this off season, is become more knowledgeable about the game so I can make better decisions on the field.
That’s what separates you from average to good and good to great. So that’s been my No. 1 focus this year.
Q. When you go abroad, are you always recognized?
TIM TEBOW: Well, most of the time I’m not recognized for like being a quarterback or a Heisman Trophy winner or anything like that. In the Philippines or Thailand, the only reason you’re recognized is because you’re a white man who is there. That’s pretty cool. You still get recognized every now and then in the weirdest places. I was walking through the Germany airport, some guy who couldn’t even speak English was, Tim Tebow. I was, What? In the Philippines, there was a lady in Manila who came up to me, she could barely speak English as well, but she said her daughter went to Florida, and she was so excited. So there are some times when you get noticed. But most of the time you’re just another person passing through.
Q. Florida and Georgia already have a lot of hype coming into the season. You have Georgia November 1st in Jacksonville. How do you stay focused with all the hype on that game, slip up to LSU or Miami, whoever comes ahead of that?
TIM TEBOW: Slip up to LSU? How do we do that? LSU is the defending national champs, and Miami will be unbelievable. I think 60% of Florida will be in Gainesville on that night. I don’t think we’ll look past those teams at all. We’re definitely looking forward to Georgia. But I don’t think we’re going to like blow off LSU or Miami. I think we’re going to focus on them as well. Those are pretty big games for us (laughter).
I think we’ll be much more mature as far as preparing every week this year and getting ready for every team we play. I think our leaders will be much better this year at really helping the young guys evolve and get ready to focus week in and week out every team we play.
Q. When you’re taking the deep snap, what is the greater challenge, going inside or trying to get to the corner?
TIM TEBOW: I’m not sure. I think it depends on the defense. Sometimes it could be either one. It really just depends on what they’re giving us, what the situation calls for, how they’re playing it. What we do really depends on what they do.
Q. How soon, if at all, did you have a sense of humor about the cell phone incident with the LSU fans? If you had to do it over again, would you still do the little gesture that you did?
TIM TEBOW: Absolutely. Absolutely. That was fun. I had fun with it. I enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy not being able to use my phone the whole week. I mean, you know, what can you say? College kids, they want to support their university, help their team, whatnot. That’s fine. Does nothing but motivate me, you know.
I mean, it just shows you how crazy some fans can be. I mean, you know, some of it’s inappropriate as far as death threats or whatnot, they’ll say about your family or whatnot. For the most part, it doesn’t I don’t even think about it. I really enjoy the intensity and the rivalry that brings. But, you know, not too much else about it.
Q. What is your new number?
TIM TEBOW: I’ll just go text the LSU fans (smiling).
Q. Coach Meyer talked a little bit about the struggling with two minutes to go last year. I’m sure you replayed the games against Auburn, LSU, Michigan in your mind. If so, what would you do differently?
TIM TEBOW: Hopefully finish those games out better and score and win. But, you know, I think that just goes down to winning in the fourth quarter and finishing out games. It’s a toughness factor, maturity, experience in big games, who wants it more, who is going to step up and make the big play. So many things go into those last seconds of games. If David Tyree doesn’t make that catch for New York, then everybody is talking about the undefeated season for the Patriots and nobody looks at the Giants any more. It could be the smallest thing. Those are the things we have to get better at. We always talk about the six inches, like in Any Given Sunday. It is the little things that change the game. Little things versus LSU when we beat LSU, you know, anything versus Auburn, we beat Auburn. The little things in those games. Those things will come with hard work, discipline, maturity, just an overall better work ethic and experience from those situations, someone stepping up and making a big play.
Q. Your roommate is gone this year. Who are you rooming with this year?
TIM TEBOW: Riley Cooper.
Q. You mentioned not going to Wal Mart, the mall too much in Gainesville. Is all the attention you get in Gainesville now becoming a major negative for you or are you able to roll with it?
TIM TEBOW: It’s not a negative at all. It really hasn’t increased with the Heisman or decreased. They were pretty excited when I got there. It’s kind of been the same ever since. But it hasn’t really hurt me at all. I enjoy it. Like I said before, it gives you a big platform. Sometimes you have pros and cons with that. But it really isn’t a negative for me. Gator fans are just like that. They’re excited and they’re everywhere.
Q. How much has the rivalry with Georgia risen since last year? How will that play into the preparation for the game this season?
TIM TEBOW: I think it will definitely be intensified that much more. I think it will be a very big game, to say the least. It could be a top few teams in the country playing that game with the right to play in the SEC, maybe national championship, for the winner of that game. They got a great team. They’re coached very well. They’re a huge rival of ours. I think that increased that much more this past year. That’s just gonna I think fire us up that much more.
As far as the touchdown dance in the end zone, that did nothing for me but just fire me up. I’m not upset or bitter about it or anything like that. I think it was a good call by Coach Richt, because that changed their season. That gave their players a spark, it gave them energy, it gave them something to be passionate about. Whether it was right or wrong, it’s not for me to say. But it definitely did give ‘em, you know, some energy and a spark.
That’s good for them.
Q. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but between winning the national championship and winning the Heisman, saving the world in the Philippines and all, did you ever like sneak a cigarette when you were in high school? Do you ever do anything wrong? Do you feel like everything off the field is sort of on cruise control for you?
TIM TEBOW: It’s definitely not on cruise control, that’s for sure (laughter). I’ll get that question, not the exact same way you put it, but sometimes. You know, everybody, they can see they can look and see how easy it is. But it’s definitely not that easy. The difference is ‘cause not many people want to wake up at 5:00, go through workouts, go speak to young kids, go back, eat lunch, go to class, go to tutoring, go speak at a prison at night, come back. I mean, more people would do those things; they just don’t want to sacrifice. Sometimes my biggest message to other athletes is, I mean, Yeah, we know you’re great in football, but take that greatness, your platform, use it to influence other people. Use it for good. I think that’s definitely something that our team has really picked up on. We got guys going to the hospitals and doing all kinds of things and really giving up a lot of their free time, changing people’s lives. That’s much more important than football. Sometimes it’s hard for people to see because football becomes people’s world. It’s everything. And then they can’t even see outside of it. But if you really look at it, it’s just a game that people get very excited about. And I’m one of those people. But fortunately I’ve been blessed to have the ability to see outside of that and see that, yeah, it’s just the game of football, but you can do a lot of special things with that. That’s my passion, even more so than football, is what I can do with the platform that football gives me. So that’s kind of been my message to other athletes.
You know, there’s a lot of leaders out there. But, unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of good ones. So that’s always been my dream and my goal, is to be someone like Danny Wuerful was to me, to be someone that a parent can say, Hey, this kid did it the right way. They can say to their kid, I want you to be like them. That’s always been my dream and my goal more so than winning a trophy or winning a championship.
So if it’s cynical or whatnot, that’s fine. If people don’t believe it, that’s fine. There’s always going to be naysayers, people that are going to say it’s fake. But that’s fine because you can’t control everybody. But I can control what I do, my attitude, how I approach the situation. So how I approach the situation is I want to do everything in my power that football gives me to influence as many people as I can for the good because that’s gonna mean so much more when it’s all said and done than just playing football and winning championships.
Q. Has there been a time in your life when you haven’t handled all the attention around you as well as you do now? How have you learned this quality?
TIM TEBOW: Definitely. I think the way I’ve learned that is just by handling, one, seeing Danny Wuerful when I was young, he was a big role model for me, but also seeing the way my parents have handled different situations in their life, with courage and boldness and humility. So those are some things that I try to take from my parents and apply them into my life. They might not be in the same circles that I am, but you can still take the same character qualities and put them in any aspect of life and you’re still gonna pull out the same common denominator. That’s something that I’ve been blessed with, is two great parents that I’ve been able to watch and take what they do in their life and implement it to my life.
Those same character qualities, you can put into anything you do, and you’re still going to pull out the same common denominator.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Tim.
TIM TEBOW: Thank you. Appreciate it.
Offensive Tackle Phil Trautwein
On Tim Tebow:
“He’s always off doing stuff, but he’s a really good person. He sees his talent as God’s gift and he wants to use it. He’s really a great person. I talk to him all the time (about his popularity). I know there are certainly plusses and minuses. After he won the Heisman, there were people waiting outside of his classes for autographs. I know he can’t go to a restaurant without having to sign.”
On the offensive line:
“We have just that much more experience, chemistry, this year. In the offseason, we’ve worked out together.”
On the offensive game plan:
“It’s complicated for the tackles, you have to read ends and tackles. It took me about a year to learn what Coach Meyer wanted me to do.”
On Coach Meyer:
“He gets everyone motivated to be great players. He makes us work hard, and he changed attitudes. There was a lot of change in some guys after he came – in a good way.”
On working from week to week:
“You can’t take a practice off because there are plenty of other teams and players that won’t be taking that day off. You can’t think about Georgia when you’re playing Hawaii because then Hawaii can beat you.”