Homeschooler wins Hesiman!

Woohoo! Let's hear it for another stereotype being broken!

Tebow may become an all-time great
Peter Schrager / FOXSports.com
Posted: 7 hours ago

When most 20-year-old guys visit New York City for the first time, they leave with a souvenir T-shirt or maybe a basic grasp of the subway system. Tim Tebow's maiden voyage to the Big Apple ended a bit differently Saturday night. Tebow heads back to Gainesville with a slice of college football history and a bronze statue in his hand.
The first college football player to ever run for 20 touchdowns and throw for 20 touchdowns in the same season, Tebow is now also the first sophomore to ever take home the Heisman Trophy. Darren McFadden didn't do it last year. Herschel Walker never did it. Marshall Faulk, fellow Gator Rex Grossman and Larry Fitzgerald all came close but fell shy as well. Even Doak Walker finished third in voting after his sophomore season in 1947.

Yet here was Tebow — a quarterback who threw a grand total of 33 passes his freshman season — walking through the Nokia Theater on Saturday night as a pioneer, the first of his kind.

It makes sense that Tebow would be the first to break through the Heisman's long-standing "sophomore wall." He's unlike any college football player we've ever seen. At 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, Tebow's a freakish physical specimen. He possesses an arm from the heavens, the legs of a horse and the brain of a high school math wiz. In short, he's the prototype. Or as South Carolina head coach and fellow Gators Heisman winner Steve Spurrier put it earlier this year, "He's the quarterback of the future. Actually, he's the quarterback of today. He's really the type of quarterback that almost everyone is looking for."


Radio personality Chris "Mad Dog" Russo describes Tebow as a "linebacker playing quarterback." CBS Sports writer Dennis Dodd labels him "Herschel Walker with a rocket left arm." The accolades are endless. Amazingly, it's not hyperbole. The guy's that special.

The lingering talk in the media room following Saturday night's proceedings circulated around whether or not Tebow could join Archie Griffin as one of just two men to win multiple Heisman Trophy awards. Realistically, there's the potential for more than that.

Yes, Tebow has the opportunity to finish his career in Gainesville as not only the best Gator quarterback of all-time, but quite possibly the most accomplished and decorated player in college football history.

Tebow already has a national title and a Heisman under his belt. With two years of eligibility left, the possibilities for additional records and resume bullet points are endless.

Two more national titles? Why not? Outside of receiver Andre Caldwell and safety Tony Joiner, the Gators return just about every significant playmaker on their 2007 roster next season. Florida's got yet another top-5 recruiting class. The future's more than bright for Urban Meyer's squad — it's glowing.

The SEC career touchdown record? It's do-able. Running and passing for an average of 4.25 touchdowns per game, he's on pace to shatter it.

Two more Heismans? Though I hate to sound like Beano Cook promoting Ron Powlus, there's no reason to believe anything otherwise.

Of course, the kid is not just unique for his on-the-field accolades.

First off, he was home-schooled. On the stigma that goes along with that, Tebow jokes, "I've heard it all. Home schoolers aren't supposed to be athletic. It's like, 'Go win a spelling bee or something.'"


Tebow also happens to be the kind of guy you wouldn't lose sleep over your daughter dating. He's humble and respectful, and strong in the classroom. He didn't spend the night before the Heisman ceremony in Manhattan nightclubs and seedy bars until 3 a.m. He went on a double-decker bus tour around New York instead.

He has a good head on his shoulders and possesses an even greater heart. While most know him as the super-human one-man wrecking crew terrorizing SEC defensive lines each weekend, there are thousands of men, women and children in the Philippines that know him as a familiar face and a friend.

Tebow's spent the majority of his summers in the Philippines — living with his parents and assisting with his father's ministry — the Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association (www.btea.org). Where most other nationally recognized high school athletes spent their teenage summers at camps sponsored by shoe companies and enjoying nights out with the prom queen (and more than likely, her friend, too), Tebow — or "Timmy" as his mother Pam still calls him — was in the Philippines each year for two months tending to the underserved.

On top of the ministry work, Tebow's also a regular visitor to the BTEA orphanage located in Mindanao in the Philippines that is home to 49 orphans and 13 staff members. He holds these experiences as close to his heart as the ones on the gridiron.

Too good to be true? Well, there is one negative: He's indecisive. Yes, when asked whether he'd rather throw a 30-yard touchdown or run one in from 30 yards out, Tebow insists he can't decide.

"Whatever coach calls is fine with me."

Other than that, you'll be hard-pressed finding something wrong with the guy.

There are "haters" out there, though. While he's already got a Heisman and a number of school, conference and NCAA records to his name, critics point to Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen's spread system as the real reason for such unbridled success.

Meyer shudders at such a suggestion. The Florida coach explained Saturday night, "I've heard the word 'system' tossed around this week. But let me tell you something — personnel is all that matters. Tim Tebow is a great player. And that has nothing to do with the offensive style he plays in."

Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, also a quarterback in a spread offense, finished fourth in the Heisman voting. Speaking with the media following the ceremony, he gave his thoughts on the "system" label.

"The spread offense works. It's now the staple in college football. Tim's a special player."

To be certain, Tebow's a passer first, running threat second. Spread system or not, the guy can toss a football. In 2007, Tebow finished with the highest single-season passing efficiency rating (178.8) of any Heisman-winning quarterback ever. He also threw for 3,132 yards and hurled 29 touchdown passes. You put him in that Hawaii offense, he's going to do just fine. The Wildhog formation down in Arkansas? He'd manage. The Pistol in Nevada? That'd be OK, too.

Tebow's not some interchangeable part. This was known by the Florida coaching staff even before he came to Gainesville. On Saturday night, Meyer recalled a conversation he had with Greg Mattison, the Florida recruiting guru most responsible for bringing the quarterback to Gainesville, two years ago. Mattison and Meyer were on a flight back from a recruiting trip in Pennsylvania. Tebow was going back and forth on Alabama and Florida at the time. Meyer, seriously considering the possibility of Tebow in crimson and white over the next four years, suggested that even if Tebow went to 'Bama, the Gators would be fine. Mattison, a longtime veteran of the recruiting game, quickly and sternly assured Meyer otherwise.

"If we don't get him," Mattison said, "it will set [Florida football] back 10-15 years."

Luckily for Meyer, Mattison and the hundreds of thousands of Florida football fans across the country, Tebow chose be a Gator. In two years, he's proven to be all Madison and Meyer hoped for and more.

And amazingly enough, it's safe to suggest the best is yet to come.


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USA Daily wrote up an article on Tebow earlier in the week as well -
"If the strapping 6’3” 235 lb. lad wins the Heisman, he’ll be making history on several counts. First, he’s only a sophomore. Second, he is the only player in NCAA history to run and pass for at least twenty touchdowns each in one season. Third, this son of missionaries to the Philippines was homeschooled in grades K through12. The last fact, no doubt, prompted Sports Illustrated to opine that Tebow is “hardly the typical college athlete.” "