A fab four years

You’ve heard that old expression, the one about tension so thick it would take a chainsaw to cut through it. Well, that’s how it felt at Nease High School that December afternoon four years ago when we waited for Tim Tebow to announce where he was going to play college football. Everybody knew it was a Florida-Alabama decision but nobody really knew which one it would be. As we found out later, even Tim’s family didn’t know until a short time before he made the announcement that he was going to be a Gator on ESPN.

I caught myself thinking about that day Wednesday afternoon as I cleaned out some files on my computer. During the past four years, I’ve probably stuck a microphone in Tim Tebow’s face a few hundred times and I’ve written about every one of those 54 football games in which he’s played for the Florida Gators. It’s been quite a journey, one that has taken this old Gator to places and heights that once seemed unattainable and now, I have eight more days before the Tebow portion of this Gator journey comes to an end in New Orleans at the Sugar Bowl.

I’d like to share a few memories of what I’d like to call The Fab Four Years. Indulge me when it comes to the title. I saw The Beatles in Jacksonville 45 years ago and their era is a musical legacy that lives on even today. The Tebow era isn’t over quite yet at Florida, but it is a football legacy that I believe will last years into the future — at least for Gator fans — just like that of The Beatles.

DECEMBER, 2005, NEASE HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM: Before he announced he was going to be a Gator, Tim thanked the coaches who had recruited him such as Lloyd Carr at Michigan and Pete Carroll at Southern Cal. When he got to Alabama, the tone changed. Tim and the entire Tebow family felt a real bond with Mike Shula and the Alabama coaching staff and the friendship that had developed made this a decision that tore up the whole family. The Tebows were and are a family of Gators. For them to feel this way about the coach at Alabama tells you something about Mike Shula.

Now, four years later, Tim Tebow has two national championship rings and a Heisman Trophy to show for his four years at the University of Florida. Alabama will be playing for its first national championship since 1992 in a couple of weeks and the school has its first-ever Heisman Trophy winner in Mark Ingram. Mike Shula was fired after the 2006 season, replaced by Nick Saban. Had Tebow chosen Alabama on that December day in 2005, I imagine that Mike Shula would still be coaching Alabama. I also have to believe that Lloyd Carr would still be the coach at Michigan had Tebow chosen to play in Ann Arbor. I’ve thought so many times about how many lives were changed by the decision Tim Tebow made to play football for the University of Florida.

OCTOBER 7, 2006: LSU came to town and Les Miles and his defensive coordinator extraordinaire had an inch-thick scouting report on Tim Tebow. He was Chris Leak’s backup quarterback but he had established himself through the first five games as Florida’s raging bull, short yardage back. Tebow was almost automatic on third and short or even fourth and one, as he had proven in Knoxville a few weeks earlier.

LSU was totally prepared to stop Tebow in his tracks but the Gators had a couple of tricks up their sleeves. One was the jump pass to Tate Casey. My lasting image of that one is Tate falling into the end zone on his back, barely hanging on to a pass that Tebow double-clutched before letting loose. The second trick play was the human play fake. Tebow took a direct snap, took a step forward and everyone on the LSU defense bit including the safeties. Tebow straightened up and hit Louis Murphy down the middle for a touchdown. I remember looking through my binoculars at the LSU sideline and they were stunned. Couldn’t believe that Tebow had thrown. That was Louis Murphy’s first catch as a Gator, too, so this was actually a coming out party for both Tebow and Murphy, although both would make their most serious contributions starting in 2007.

I had always felt Tim Tebow was going to be a real star at the University of Florida, but after this game, I knew he had what it takes. He was the difference-maker in Florida’s 23-10 win over LSU, but what impressed me the most was how he handled himself after it was over. He made sure everybody knew that this was Chris Leak’s team and he had just carried out a couple of important assignments. There was no false humility. That was real. As impressed as I was with Tim Tebow the quarterback that day, I was more impressed with Tim Tebow the teammate.

JANUARY 8, 2007: Florida won the national championship, walloping the allegedly unbeatable Ohio State Buckeyes, 41-14, in Glendale, Arizona. Tebow carried the ball 10 times for 39 yards and a touchdown and he threw a one-yard pass to Bubba Caldwell for another touchdown. Both of the Tebow scoring plays came long after the game had been decided. This one was over at the half and if Urban Meyer had so chosen, the Gators could have hung 60 on the hapless Buckeyes.

This was Chris Leak’s shining moment. He promised a national championship when he signed with the Gators and he delivered one in his final game in a Florida uniform. I can’t remember how many reporters stuck microphones in Tebow’s face as we tried to grab whatever quotes we could down on the field as the confetti flew after the game but I remember how Tebow handled things so graciously, again, as he had several weeks before after the LSU game, praising Chris Leak, who was the MVP of the game, and thanking him for teaching and mentoring him.

Tebow knew at that very moment that this was his football team and a few reporters even peppered him with questions about the Tebow Era that was about to begin. Tim made sure that nothing he said would take away from Chris Leak’s night. He knew his time was at hand, but he made sure that Leak went out the right way.

SPRING, 2007: On a Saturday morning in March with perhaps 1,500 fans at the practice field, Tebow threw a little out pattern to freshman tight end Aaron Hernandez, who turned upfield after making the catch only to try to dance past the safety before skipping out of bounds. No sooner had Hernandez tossed the ball to a manager than Tebow was in his face, screaming.

“You’re a freaking tight end, Aaron!” Tebow shouted at Hernandez. “Run over him!”

That happened about 10 feet from where I was standing. I saw the veins bulging in Tebow’s neck and his face matched the red of his non-contact jersey. I left the practice field that day thinking this just might be the most intense college football player I’ve ever seen.

NOVEMBER 10, 2007: On this night in Columbia, South Carolina, Tim Tebow ran for 120 yards and five touchdowns and threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns, causing South Carolina’s coach, who was also Florida’s first Heisman Trophy winner, to ask, “How many did he run in against us? Five?” Steve Spurrier, whose Heisman Trophy was sealed in 1966 with a 40-yard field goal against Auburn as time ran out, knew a thing or two about Heisman moments and he had just been on the receiving end of one.

The Gators played that night without Percy Harvin, whose migraine headaches kept him in Gainesville. Without Percy to share the load, Tebow took over and earned the Heisman Trophy.

What I remember most about that game is that Tebow took the weight of the entire team on his shoulders and practically willed the Gators to win the game. Florida’s defense wasn’t very good and the only way the Gators were going to win was to score on nearly every possession. Florida had the ball eight times in the game. Tebow delivered seven touchdowns. That night I wrote, “just give him the damn trophy.” A month later on the stage in New York, they did.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2008: On fourth and one with 1:24 remaining in the game and the ball on the Ole Miss 32, Tim Tebow got stuffed by Peria Jerry and the entire right side of the Ole Miss line. Florida lost the game, 31-30, a monumental upset that nobody with a measure of sanity could have predicted.

After waiting what seemed an eternity in the post game interview room, Tebow finally appeared. He was crushed emotionally and his eyes were swollen from the tears. What happened next will be remembered right there with “Win one for the Gipper” in college football lore. Tebow apologized for losing the game and then promised that he would work harder than anyone ever had and would do whatever was necessary to push, pull or lead the Gators the rest of the season.

As we all know, Florida won the next 10 games and took the national championship. In both the SEC and national championship games, Tebow literally took the games over in the fourth quarter. He was extraordinary, not just in the way he played on the field, but in the way he lifted the entire Florida football team. He imposed his will on an entire team and in doing so, his will crushed the will to win of both Alabama and Oklahoma.  Those were the two most extraordinary fourth quarters I’ve ever seen in all the years I’ve been writing.

JULY, 2009: At SEC Media Days, Clay Travis asked Tim if he’s a virgin. Travis claimed he was asking as a journalist, but as we found out by listening to talk radio in Birmingham, he had actually asked the question to win a bet from a talk show host. The question was inappropriate and inexcusable but Tebow handled it without even flinching or a moment of hesitation. Had he shown a flash of anger or stumbled to find an answer, people would have claimed he had something to hide. Instead, he simply said yes and moved on to the next question. I was amazed at how composed he was and how comfortable he is with his own set of values.

DECEMBER 5, 2009: The Gators and Tebow fired blanks on a night when they needed laser guided smart bombs against a well-prepared Alabama team in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game at the Georgia Dome. There was no promise after this game but in the midst of the disappointment of losing not only the SEC title but a chance to play for a third national championship in four years and perhaps win another Heisman Trophy, Tebow mustered up the composure to face the media. Although it was easy to see that he took this loss personally, he wasn’t going to allow his disappointment to sound like sour grapes. Instead, he was gracious in his praise for Alabama and Nick Saban.

On that night when his dreams of a perfect season and one more national championship died, Tebow made sure to praise his teammates for a great run of 22 straight wins. He had plenty to be proud of and he wouldn’t allow a disappointing loss to take away from all that had been accomplished.

CHRISTMAS EVE, 2009: Here it is early morning Christmas Eve and I find myself doing what I’ve done so often the last four years and that’s write about Tim Tebow. I had no idea the journey that was embarking on when I went to that press conference at Nease High School four years ago, but I’m certainly glad I did. These have been four incredible years. The Gators have won 47 games and lost only seven. They’ve won two national championships and that’s a really big deal for someone who once wondered if the Gators would ever win an SEC championship that counted. Tebow has won a Heisman Trophy and earned his place among the greatest players to ever play college football. What a run it has been.

Eight days from now the Tim Tebow will officially come to an end at the Louisiana Superdome against Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl, the same place where Tebow’s hero, Danny Wuerffel, finished off his Florida career with a national championship win over Florida State. I know that Tebow would have preferred to end his career at the Rose Bowl playing for a national championship, but there is something compelling about finishing it in New Orleans in the same stadium as Wuerffel.

After Danny won his national championship, I said there would never be another one like him. I was wrong because a few years later, along came Tim Tebow. They say lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place but Wuerffel and Tebow have proven that wrong.

Would it be wrong to wish for a third lightning strike in the same place for Christmas? I can dream, can’t I?

Franz Beard
Back in January of 1969, the late, great Jack Hairston, then the sports editor of the Jacksonville Journal, called me on the phone one night and asked me if I wanted to work for him. I said yes. The entire interview took 30 seconds. It's my experience that whenever the interview lasts 30 seconds or less, I get the job. In the 48 years that I've been writing and getting paid for it, I've covered Super Bowls, World Series, NCAA basketball championships, BCS championship games, heavyweight title fights and what seems like thousands of college football, baseball and basketball games. I'm a columnist and special assignments editor for Gator Country once again, writing about the only team that ever mattered to me, the Florida Gators.