It was just recently announced that Tim Tebow sustained a season-ending injury with a lacerated finger on his left hand. The injury came last month as he was trying to field a ball in the outfield which ended up requiring eight stitches. This injury comes a year after he broke his hamate bone in his right hand during a game that took him out of the rest of that season also.
Though Tebow has been adamant about continuing his baseball dream of playing in the majors stating, “I’m all in on baseball,” in an interview earlier this year. “I’ve never been [to the Majors], so I can’t tell you exactly what it takes. I just know that I’m giving it everything that I have every day.”
Who can’t respect the man’s passion for playing a sport he loves but how long will his chance of playing in the majors last? He has played his entire baseball career in the minors for the Mets and sources say up to now they don’t plan on calling him up.
So, would it be smart for him to pick up the pigskin and start reliving those “Gator” glory days? Some say Tebow just didn’t have what it took to make it in the NFL.
Let’s rewind back and take a look at how it all unfolded for “The Big Tebowski.”
High School (Trinity Christian Academy, Jacksonville FL/Allen D. Nease, Ponte Vedra, FL)
Tim Tebow started his football career as a tight end at Trinity Christian Academy High School in Jacksonville Florida. It wasn’t until his Junior year of high school, which he had moved to the struggling football program of Nease High School that he switched to quarterback back and was thrust into the national spotlight. He was becoming known as a mobile quarterback with an accurate arm who was extremely competitive. That competitiveness played a major role as he played an entire second half of a game with a broken fibula where he rushed for a 29-yard touchdown play. However, after that game, he would have to set out the remainder of his junior season as they believed at the time it was only a bad cramp. Even though he set the rest of the year, his skills and passion for the game earned him the “Florida Player of the Year” and was, therefore, an instant prospect for a major college program.
His senior year was followed by a state title and once more earning that “Player of the Year” award for consecutive years. He also won All-State honors and even “Florida’s Mr. Football” title which is a prestigious honor for any high school kid from any state! For all the awards he won in high school one of the most notable mentions was when they named him number 33 on the State of Florida’s 100 years of high school football players.
College (Florida Gators)
2006-2009
Tebow had planned on committing to Alabama’s Crimson Tide but later made the decision to change that as he felt the spread option offense that Urban Meyer played in Florida would be a better fit for his playstyle and accepted a full athletic scholarship to play for the Florida Gators. Despite his high school reputation he was made second-string QB behind Chris Leak and wouldn’t see many playing opportunities his freshman year. He did, however, play a pivotal role for the 2006 season when he began it in the first game of the year coming off the bench to score on the goal line against Ole’ Miss as he rushed on a scramble for the first play of his collegiate career. He followed the next week with leading the game in rushing yards against UCF. But it wasn’t until week three when the Gators played rival Tennessee Volunteers that Tebow came in the game for a crucial fourth-down play to move the sticks in the fourth quarter and help the Gators set up a game-winning touchdown play. Game six is when Tebow would throw his first passing TD for the Gators as he hit tight end Tate Casey in the endzone on what was known as “the jump pass” and ended the game victorious with three total touchdowns. The Gators would end up winning the BCS Championship that year as they beat Ohio State 41-14.
His sophomore year he was named the starter in spite of the doubts of many who questioned his skill as a passer but he quickly put their minds at ease when he came out the gate swinging against Western Kentucky in the first game by leading the Gators on the first four possessions for touchdowns. He would end the game passing for 300 yards with three touchdown passes and one rushing touchdown while the game never ended as weather prevented them from finishing the last eight minutes they were declared the winners with a 49-3 victory. The following game against Troy he helped score a touchdown every time the Gators had the ball the entire first half. The 2007 season saw many records of Tim Tebow for both school and national records and finishing with the second-highest passing efficiency in the nation with 177.8 and averaged 4.3 YPC rushing. He would be named first-team All-SEC and All-America and awarded the Heisman Trophy along with the Davey O’Brien Award.
His final two seasons in Florida was successful as he was once again nominated as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 2008 but lost to Sam Bradford. And he was a runner up to the 2009 Heisman Trophy also. I’m not sure how many players can say they were even a finalist for the Heisman two times let alone being named to three straight and winning one. All in all, Tebow left a pretty good dent in the NCAA and the Florida Gators football history book. He holds to this day multiple records and leaves with a 14 consecutive game with at least one passing and one rushing touchdown which is really amazing when you think about it.
He lead his team to two winning national championships, two SEC championships and won the SEC Player of the Year for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He threw for over 9,000 passing yards compiled a total of 145 touchdowns, 88 of them passing and 57 rushing. Out of the four years, he only threw 16 picks and had an average rating at 170.8 with a 67.1 percent average. Let’s not forget he was only 53 yards shy of rushing for a total of 3,000 yards at Florida.
With these stats, awards, and numbers you would’ve thought Tebow would be a household name for years to come as a legendary QB for the NFL. Unfortunately, that’s not how it turned out.
NFL (Denver Broncos)
2010-2011
Tebow was picked 25th by the Broncos in the 2010 draft. Many people were hesitant on Tebow but then head coach Josh McDaniels saw something that nobody else saw stating, “He has all the traits you look for. It’s a good pick.” but Mel Kiper, Jr. said he wouldn’t last and he didn’t have a future as a quarterback in the NFL. Tebow only saw playing time in six of the games for that season as he sat behind Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn. He was used mostly in the wildcat formation (nicknamed the “Wild Horse” formation for Denver) but he ended up starting for the last three games of the season in which he would make NFL history as he was the first QB to rush for a touchdown in each of his first three starts.
In 2011 Tebow would replace Kyle Orton after Orton started the season 1-3. Tebow stepped in at the second half of week four against the Chargers and coming within inches of winning the game from trailing by 16. That performance helped him land the starting QB role moving forward. He would finish the season by bringing that 1-3 record to 8-8 and landing the 4th seed in the playoffs. The Broncos would host the 5th seed Pittsburgh Steelers in the Wildcard playoffs even though the Steelers had a 12-4 record they lost the higher seed to the Ravens who were also 12-4 but having lost both divisional games to the Ravens they earned the number 2 seed. What was thought to be an easy victory for the Steelers the Broncos had other plans. After going down by 6 points in the first quarter the Broncos answered back with 20 points in the second quarter. At the end of the fourth the game was tied at 23 and after winning the coin toss for OT Tebow leads his team on an 80-yard touchdown drive. He finished with 316 yards on 10 for 21 and 2 TD’s.
The next week was met with an iron fist as the Broncos marched into Foxborough to face off against the first seed Patriots. They wouldn’t stand a chance as the Patriots dominated the game and finishing with a 45-10 victory. Tebow failed to perform as he was only 9 for 26 with 136 and no touchdowns.
In the weeks that followed John Elway confirmed that Tebow would maintain the role as starting QB. That however quickly changed as a quarterback which we’ll leave nameless was being released from a team he spent his whole career with due to a neck injury. This quarterback was regarded as one of the greatest to ever play the game, regardless if the man has the rings just look at his stats! Oh, by the way, I’m talking about Peyton Manning for those who didn’t watch football for the past couple decades. Anyways, Manning needed a new home and it just happened that John Elway decided to take him in with open arms feeling that Manning would be the one to lead them to a Super Bowl.
Jets/Patriots/Eagles
After the signing of Manning the Broncos traded Tebow to the Jets where he was planned to be used on special teams and also run the wildcat formation on offense.
We don’t really need to go into much detail about how everything went for Tim at the end of his NFL career as we all remember him being released by the Jets even after playing injured with a couple of broken ribs but never really living up to his potential. He would end up going to two more teams before calling it quits, the Patriots and the Eagles. He made no starts for either of those teams.
Tebow didn’t rack up many great stats, nothing compared to his Gators days as his total NFL stats were 2,422 passing yards (which he rushed for more than that in college) 17 touchdown passes with 9 INT’s, rushed for 989 yards with 12 rushing TD’s, 14 fumbles, 6 lost and a career percentage of 47.9.
Perhaps you wonder why I would like to see Tim Tebow in the XFL? It’s simple really. I love a comeback story and a second chance at victory! Yes, he might be a bit older now but does that really mean he can’t play the game? Not at all. Look at guys like Brett Farve and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady all who were in their 40’s by the time they quit minus Tom of course. So with Tebow only being 32 years old, he could still have quite a few years left in him. And with his baseball career seemingly going nowhere, maybe it’s time for him to give football another shot!
What do you think? Would you like to see Tim Tebow in the XFL? If so let us know in the comments.
