DAVID GARDNER
Even after winning the Heisman Trophy two seasons ago and playing major roles in two Florida national championships, the doubters of Tim Tebow are many.
They all seem to carry the same message: That the 6-3, 245-pound Tebow will never be a successful quarterback in the National Football League.
Funny but they said the same thing after Tebow led Nease High School to a state championship in 2005. Craig Howard, Tebow’s head coach at Nease, remembers a similar song that Tebow would never be able to succeed in the Southeastern Conference.
“They doubted Timmy when he came out of high school and they doubt him now,” Howard said last week after Florida’s 14th practice of the spring last Friday. “I’ve never doubted him. He’s going to be great this year, and he’ll be a great player in the National Football League.”
Howard was one of several hundred high school coaches from across the Southeast at the Gators’ practice and coaching clinic last Friday and Saturday. The clinic featured New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a friend of Florida head coach Urban Meyer, and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden, who is trying to learn everything he can about the Spread offense.
Having watched Tebow progress from a freshman nose guard to a Heisman Trophy and National Championship quarterback, Howard has a unique perspective. He said he has seen Tebow improve every year and he expects a big improvement this season.
The critics have a laundry list of things they don’t like – Tebow’s lack of experience under center, his slow throwing motion and the Spread offense.
Howard has one he likes – Tebow’s ability to win football games and championships.
“This year with (quarterbacks coach) Scot Loeffler coming in, I see Timmy refining his throwing motion and doing more under-center stuff,” Howard said. “I think they’re doing some special things to get him ready for that next level.”
Howard looks past the touchdown passes and evaluates a quarterback on more than just his play as an individual. With Tebow, he said, you get a quarterback who makes everyone around him better.
“Tim has a special charisma about him that makes those around him that much better,” Howard said. “There are 100 guys in the NFL playing quarterback, and not all of them have the charisma of Tim Tebow. He will be that kind of player for whichever team drafts him.”
That’s the same thing that Howard told Florida coach Urban Meyer when he was recruiting Tebow. Now Meyer is telling the same thing to NFL coaches, but he is also working to make Tebow more of an NFL-ready prospect.
The voices may want to see Tebow move to a different position in the NFL, but the only head coaches he has had couldn’t disagree more.
“Tim Tebow is a quarterback, and he needs to play quarterback,” Howard said. “I think he’s tough enough to play H-back – he’s tough enough to play nose guard – but I would hate to see it. He’s a tough kid, but he’s a truly great quarterback. It’d be a waste of leadership to move him from quarterback.”
Until the transition to the NFL, though, Howard wants to talk about the great things that Tebow is doing as a college football player. One of the greatest moves he has made wasn’t even on the field, according to Howard.
“I’m proud that he came back to school,” Howard said, “and I know the Gator Nation is excited that he is coming back.”
With a young SEC, particularly at quarterback, the Gator Nation seems to have progressed past hoping for a third title in four years and are instead expecting it.
Howard cautions the optimism – winning three Associated Press titles in four years hasn’t been done since Notre Dame in 1946, 1947 and 1949. In the ultra-competitive BCS system, only Southern California has had a similar run to Florida.
“It’s almost an impossible dream,” Howard said, “but it’s a dream with this coaching staff in place, and with the talent and speed that Meyer has assembled.”
So does Howard think that they’ll do it? Unlike the voices, he has never been a doubter.
“I think they’ll make a run for it, and it’ll be an incredible feat once they do it,” Howard said. “Yeah, I believe they are going to do it.”
Particularly with Tim Tebow around to have something to say about the situation.