The old song by Meat Loaf goes “don’t be sad, ‘cause two out of three ain’t bad” and that’s probably the best way to look at Percy Harvin leaving for the National Football League while Tim Tebow and Brandon Spikes return for their senior seasons. When Spikes didn’t attend the national championship celebration Sunday, most Gator fans figured that he and Percy were NFL bound but after thinking things over, Spikes announced Thursday that he’s returning along with Tebow.
Tebow will have the same NFL questions next year that he has this year, so it only makes sense for him to return. He has a chance to win a second Heisman Trophy and if he leads the Gators to their third national championship in four years, he will certainly go down as one of the greatest — if not THE greatest — college football player of all time. He has accumulated 8,427 yards of total offense and accounted for 110 touchdowns (67 passing, 43 rushing) in his three-year career. He is 22-5 as a starting quarterback.
Spikes’ return had to make Thursday one of the happiest days of Charlie Strong’s career. Florida’s defensive coordinator returns all 11 starters from a unit that finished 2008 ranked ninth in total defense and fourth in scoring defense. Spikes, who is the inspirational leader of the Florida defense, led the team with 93 tackles and he had four interceptions, two which he returned for touchdowns. Spikes made first team All-America as a junior. As a senior, he could make a clean sweep of the Butkus, Bednarik and Lombardi trophies.
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