Gator Country

If Tim Tebow again hoists the Heisman Trophy this Saturday night in New York City, the Florida QB won't be doing it with a cast on his right hand as he did last December when he became the first sophomore ever to win college football's most prestigious individual award.

Archie Griffin may soon have company as a two-time Heisman Trophy winner. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, last year's Heisman Trophy winner, is one of three finalists for this year's award which will be announced Saturday evening in New York City.

Tebow, who statistically didn’t have the year he had in becoming the first sophomore ever to win college football’s most prestigious individual honor in 2007, is going up against two prolific quarterbacks from the Big 12 Conference—Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Texas’ Colt McCoy—in his quest to join Griffin, the former Ohio State running back for legendary coach Woody Hayes, as the only back-to-back and two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy. Griffin won the trophy in 1974 and repeated in 1975.

This year’s winner will be announced shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday night in a live ESPN broadcast from the Nokia Theatre in New York’s Times Square.

“It’s a tremendous honor for Tim to be invited back to the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York City,” Florida head coach Urban Meyer said. “This is a great achievement and a reward for the fantastic season he has had in leading his teammates to the Southeastern Conference title and a berth in the BCS National Championship Game.”

The Tebow-led Gators (12-1) will play Bradford’s Oklahoma Sooners (12-1) in the game at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium on Jan. 8, 2009.

Last year when he won the Heisman Trophy, Tebow rushed for 23 touchdowns and passed for 32 more in leading Florida to a 9-4 record. He remains the only player in NCAA history to have rushed and passed for 20 or more touchdowns in a season.

This year, Tebow’s numbers dropped but Florida’s record improved, thanks in part to the Gators’ wealth of big-time players on offense—wide receiver/running back Percy Harvin, running backs Jeffrey Demps and Chris Rainey and receivers Aaron Hernandez, Louis Murphy, Riley Cooper, David Nelson and Deonte Thompson. Offensive coordinator Dan Mullen and Meyer asked Tebow to do less, particularly running, and get the ball to his athletes.

The result was another fine season which earned Tebow the 2008 Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Year shortly after he won the league’s Scholar-Athlete honor. Tebow leads the SEC in completion percentage (65 percent), touchdown passes (28), passing efficiency (176.7 rating) and lowest interception percentage (0.7 per game). For the season, Tebow completed 174 of 268 passes for 2,515 yards with just two inteceptions and carried the ball 154 times for 564 yards and 12 touchdowns.

His best statistic? Florida’s 12-1 record, which included an ongoing nine-game winning streak following the Gators’ only loss this season, 31-30, to Mississippi in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Sept. 27. Following the game, an emotional Tebow apologized to Gator fans for the loss and guaranteed them that he and his teammates would work hard to overcome the loss.

The Gators did with the current winning streak which reached nine last Saturday when Tebow led two fourth-quarter drives that overcame a 20-17 Alabama lead and gave Florida a 31-20 victory over the top-ranked Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome. The victory catapulted Florida into the BCS rankings to No. 2 behind Oklahoma and assured them of a chance to play for their second national title in three seasons. As a freshman, Tebow split time with Chris Leak as Florida won the BCS National Championship Game by beating unbeaten Ohio State, 41-14, in Glendale, Ariz.

For his career, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound Tebow, who was a prep All-America quarterback for Nease High School in suburban Jacksonville, Tebow has thrown for 6,159 yards and 65 touchdowns and passed for 1,928 yards and 43 touchdowns. His 108 career touchdowns running and passing are 13 short of tying the Florida record of Danny Wuerffel, who guided Florida to the 1996 national championship for coach Steve Spurrier.

Wuerffel won the Heisman Trophy that season, while Spurrier won it as Florida’s quarterback in 1966. Like his Wuerffel and Spurrier, Tebow is the son of a minister.

Bradford, a 6-4, 218-pound sophomore from Oklahoma City, led Oklahoma to a 12-1 finish and the Big 12 Championship by throwing for 4,464 yards (completing 302 of 442 passes, 68 percent) and 48 touchdowns with a pass efficiency rating of 186.29. He also rushed for 65 yards and 5 touchdowns on 40 carries.

McCoy, a 6-3, 210-pound junior from Tuscola, Texas, led the Longhorns to a 11-1 record, including a 45-35 victory over Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 11. McCoy completed 291 passes (out of 375) for 78 percent, 3,445 yards and 32 touchdowns. He had another 576 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns on 128 carries.

Bradford and McCoy played in the pass-happy Big 12 South Division along with Texas Tech senior Graham Harrell (6-3, 205) who passed for 4,747 yards and 41 touchdowns and scored another six touchdowns on the ground. The Red Raiders also finished 11-1, including a 39-33 victory over then No. 1 Texas on Nov. 1 in Lubbock. Harrell was not invited to the award ceremony, which usually indicates that he has no chance of winning.

But Harrell certainly will take voting points away from the other three quarterbacks, including his fellow Big 12 quarterbacks Bradford and McCoy, and that plus Tebow’s fourth-quarter performance against Alabama last Saturday may be enough to allow the Florida quarterback to win the award which back in September, October and early November looked like it was going to a quarterback in the Big 12.

Tebow is also a finalist to win the Maxwell Award Thursday night at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista during the ESPN Awards Show presented by Home Depot.

On Tuesday, Tebow was named the winner of the 2008 Wuerffel Trophy by the All Sports Association of Fort Walton Beach. The award is presented to the colege football player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement. Tebow spent the summer working with his family as ministers in the Phillipines.

Tebow also was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Football Team by being named the Academic All-American of the Year for the second straight year. He carries a 3.70 grade-point average in his major, Family, Youth and Community Services. He is the fourth Gator to win Academic All-America honors in back-to-back seasons. The other three are Carlos Alvarez (1969-71), Michael Gilmore (1993-94) and Wuerffel (1995-96).

Saturday night, however, Tebow could find himself in a place no Gator ever has gone before—in the same room as Archie Griffin as a two-time, back-to-back Heisman Trophy winner.

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