Tim Tebow

After eight games, the consensus seems to be that QB Tim Tebow is ready to run the Gators’ entire offense if need be.

> FB Billy Latsko: “I think he’s ready to run the offense. He’s had almost a whole year of being with us, during the spring and now in the fall. He’s come a long way, learning all the checks and reads he has to make. I think he’s ready.”
> OC Dan Mullen on how much responsibility Tebow could handle: “Probably all of it, I would think. With live bullets flying, you don’t know because we haven’t had him (run the entire offense in a game yet). He’s done pretty well with everything we’ve asked him to do. As a backup, he’s focused himself every single week of knowing the plan, knowing the checks and being ready to go with his reps. He’s prepared himself to be ready to get on the field.”
> Urban Meyer: “(QB Chris Leak) happens to have a very confident guy behind him who is very good at certain things. You can expect to see Tim run the offense as opposed to just single-wing football. We’re going to try and get that done this week. I don’t know how much. … Six weeks ago, he was a single-wing quarterback. Take the ball and run your big butt over a Tennessee linebacker. You go do it and do it really well and he did that. He’s getting pretty close to being comfortable in the offense, particularly the spread offense. He’s good at that.”
> Tebow: ” You never know until you get out there in a game and actually run it and make all the checks and see all the blitzes and protections. You hope you can run it. You have to find out in a game.”
> C Steve Rissler: “I think he could run the whole offense (in a game). Obviously, he’s still a freshman and we have a proven senior at quarterback. But Tim is good. He gets his reps and he does a good job. I think he’d do good (running the entire offense in a game).”

QB Tim Tebow played only four plays against Auburn. We lost. Could there be a correlation there?

> Urban Meyer: “He’s much improved. We probably didn’t play him enough Saturday. I didn’t realize he only played four … plays. We don’t go into the game saying we’re going to play him for so many plays. We certainly have a package for him.”

For those of you who still think there might be a QB controversy, the coaching staff has a quick refresher on the roles of QBs Chris Leak and Tim Tebow.

> OC Dan Mullen: “We like what we do with our ‘Tim package’ because it causes some issues for the defense.”
> Mullen: “It’s not like we’re replacing Chris with Tim. Tim’s going in to run his package. A lot of what you see are quarterback runs. If I called one of those plays and Chris was in the game, he’d look at me and say, ‘You called the wrong play.’”
> Urban Meyer: “I think they’re both high-character people. I’ve heard stories and I’ve actually been around some people that it probably wouldn’t work because they are selfish. It’s an ‘I before team’ mentality. And this has been made very clear for the past year and a half, if that’s the way it is then . . . we’ve had that, there are a few guys on this team that are no longer a part of this team because I saw that. That’s a cancer. That’s a bad deal. You want to tear a team down, you have that involved in your program and it will go bad fast.”

QB Tim Tebow was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. P Eric Wilbur was the league’s best special-teamer.

The Gators’ 23-10 win over LSU Saturday suddenly propelled them into the national championship hunt. The game was a refreshingly fun one to watch, thanks in part to the play of freshman QB Tim Tebow. Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel:

Chris Leak is an efficient quarterback; Tebow is an entertaining one. Leak is coldly calculating; Tebow is hotly emotional. Leak slides down before the first-down marker; Tebow sledgehammers tacklers into it.

Leak is a manager in the huddle; Tebow is magic on the field.

Who would have ever thought Leak’s Heisman chances would be ruined Saturday amid the biggest victory at Florida Field in nearly a decade? Rule No. 1: You can’t win the Heisman when you might not even be the best quarterback on your own team.

It was Tebow being interviewed by CBS after the game Saturday. It was Tebow who had a four-deep crowd of reporters around him in the postgame news conference. Hey, do you think it’s too early to nominate Tebow for the ring of honor?

Leak has thrown 79 touchdown passes in his career, but guess what? None of them are as memorable as the 1-yard toss Tebow threw for the first touchdown pass of his career Saturday. The kid took the snap, faked a run, leaped high into the air, double-clutched as if he were shooting a floater in the lane, and hit tight end Tate Casey with an old-fashioned jump pass.

“Did they have video in 1913?” Florida Coach Urban Meyer cracked. “I think that’s where we got that play from.”

And that’s why fans love Tebow; because he’s a throwback; because he’s not a typical, robotic cookie-cutter QB. The kid’s a frenetic, genetic amalgamation; a wild, weird cross between Steve Young and Jerome Bettis — with a little Incredible Hulk thrown in.

ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel:

There is no earned run average for quarterbacks, no statistic available to measure the ratio of successful plays to unsuccessful. That’s too bad for Florida backup quarterback Tim Tebow, the rambunctious Great Dane puppy of a freshman whom Gators offensive coordinator Dan Mullen sends onto the field with the feel of a manager knowing when to signal the bullpen.

Tebow certainly didn’t make all the difference in No. 5 Florida’s 23-10 defeat of No. 9 LSU on a gray Saturday afternoon at The Swamp. The left-hander played only 15 snaps, the last six of which came in fourth-quarter garbage time.

There was also the Gator defense and special teams that forced five turnovers and blocked a punt. And there was senior quarterback Chris Leak, making the 39th start of his career.

“Chris is our guy,” Mullen said. “Tim is going to come in for his little complementary set of plays each week.”

Every set of plays should be so little and complementary. On his first eight snaps, Tebow ran for one touchdown and threw for two more.

There is no question about whether Leak should be the starter. Tebow can run Tebow’s plays. Leak can run the Florida offense.

“Do I have to guard against anything?” Florida coach Urban Meyer repeated. “No. We’re 6-0. We need to continue to improve. Chris was 17-of-26 for 155. He did throw a pick. He did not throw a touchdown. We expect more than that. We just need to continue to improve.”

Joey Johnston of the Tampa Tribune:

Here’s something you’ll hardly ever see: Leak still represents Florida’s best shot at a Heisman Trophy, his case boosted by each Gator victory. But if you ask me, Tebow is UF’s most valuable player.

He kept alive UF’s game-winning touchdown drive at Tennessee with a fourth-and-1 run. He confounded LSU. What’s in store for Auburn?

Tebow’s presence makes the game electrifying. Fans clamored for more Saturday. But here’s the best strategy for Meyer: Keep Tebow in the reserve role. Keep everyone guessing. Maintain this mind-blowing quarterback combination.

What’s the comparison?

Is Tebow like a baseball pinch-hitter who delivers in nearly every at-bat? A closer? A sixth man in basketball?

There is no comparison.

There may be no precedent.

He brings more of a punch to the jaw than a change of pace. He makes defenses weak at the knees. And he’s only going to get better.

Dave George of the Palm Beach Post:

What Tim Tebow did Saturday in The Swamp transcended football, as budding legends sometimes do.

There was a flavor of baseball, for instance, in Florida’s 23-10 win over LSU, with Chris Leak somehow demoted to starting quarterback and Tebow, the true freshman, the genuine article, promoted to closer on three Gators scoring drives.

Basketball skills were represented, too, on the jump pass Tebow flipped over a goal-line scrum to Tate Casey for a touchdown. …

(The Gators are playing) full-contact football, demonstrated by Tim Tebow on a landmark afternoon when seemingly almost any sport would do, and seemingly anything was doable.

This kind of mystery need not be understood, but it must be exploited.

What Meyer suddenly has is what Spurrier often had, more touchdown makers than any other team in the league, and more touchdown plays than one quarterback can handle.

David J. Neal of the Miami Herald looks WAYYY ahead:

Are you worried up at Ohio State, in those moments you do what everybody swears they don’t do and look all the way to January’s national championship game? Better hope Auburn upends Florida or that BCS computer gets the hots for USC or West Virginia. Those teams are made for you Buckeyes. Mano-a-mano, let’s see who’ll out-alpha-male whom.

These Gators are made for nobody. This is the kind of team that could call Ohio State onto the mat and pounce on them for the pin.

For all their talent, they don’t steam roll anybody implacably. They tweak, befuddle, smooch opponents that Bugs Bunny taunt of a kiss before dropping them with a Joe Frazier hook from an oversized glove. They leave the other guys beaten, but not feeling beat up.

Peter Kerasotis of Florida Today:

Is there a better team in the state of Florida than the Gators? Is there a better team in the Southeast? No, not the Southeastern Conference. Rather, the entire Southeast. And, finally, is there a better team in the country? …

(I)t’s not far-fetched for the Gators to stay focused and finish the regular season undefeated, and if they do, and then win the SEC title, who can deny that they won’t deserve to play for the national championship based on the sheer strength of their schedule?

Again, that’s the blessing of this schedule.

The curse, of course, is that because the games ahead are so tough, with hardly a letup, a regular-season loss somewhere down the road would hardly be shocking.

Meanwhile, Meyer has the Gators feeling like a born-again football program, with more and more believers lining up to board the bandwagon. Just when it appears that Meyer has won his biggest game on a Gator sideline, he keeps one-upping himself.

Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun:

A year ago was about as low as it could be for the offensive coaches at Florida. They were handed five turnovers and spit them out like they had yet to ripen. In a miserable fourth quarter in Baton Rouge, nothing worked and everything backfired.

That day was one of the reasons that Saturday was important for Dan Mullen, the Gator offensive coordinator, and for head coach Urban Meyer.

Because it’s not like LSU isn’t still great on defense.

“Their defensive backfield, I’m not sure I’ve coached against a better one,” Meyer said.

All week I said that the key to the game would be Florida’s offense, whether it could find a way to score points against LSU’s awesome defense. Which made this a big game for Mullen.

He has had plenty of critics for his play-calling, mostly filling up the talk radio airwaves where Gators fans find a way to suffer through what is still an unbeaten season.

And nobody is going to overpraise an offense that scored three touchdowns and gained 288 yards.

But on a day when one of the key weapons was missing in DeShawn Wynn and the speed on LSU’s defense was both blinding and scary, Meyer and Mullen came up with a couple of beauties to take advantage of the phenomenon that is Tim Tebow.

The enduring highlight of Saturday’s win will likely be QB Tim Tebow’s second quarter jump pass to TE Tate Casey, a play recently inserted into the playbook.

> OC Dan Mullen: “It’s called the Pop pass. It’s a little Pop Warner play. We practiced it all week, but in practice the tight end got off the line a little quicker.”
> Casey: “It’s funny, I wanted to tell my dad to look out for it, but I couldn’t tell him about it. I just said when you’re expecting the obvious, that’s when you’ll see it. Because everybody was expecting Tim to come in and run on that play.”

QB Tim Tebow’s playing time isn’t just to placate the ravenous Gator nation’s desire to see its prized recruit; it’s a welcome change of pace for coaches. You might even see Tebow and QB Chris Leak on the field together.

> Urban Meyer: “We want to be very hard to defend. I think it’s very similar to when you put (WR) Percy Harvin at tailback. It’s very similar to when you run an empty (backfield). When you run just a little option, it keeps the defense off its toes. I think Chris and Tim complement each other. The intent is to move the ball and to be very difficult to defend.”
> OC Dan Mullen: “We have a Tebow package, plays we want him to run each game. So when we want to call those plays we put him in the game to run them. It’s great because it gives me a chance to talk to Chris during the middle of a series. He’ll put the headset on and I’ll say, ‘Chris, this is what I want to do, this, this and this because this is what the defense is doing.’ He’ll get back in there and do it. It’s been a pretty good advantage for us. It gives defenses a couple of more things to prepare for. We have a package for Tim every week. It’s a great situation for everybody.”
> Mullen: “As (the rotation system) goes on, maybe we’ll put Tim and Chris on the field at the same time. We didn’t do it last week. We might try to come up with something this week.”

QB Tim Tebow wowed the Gator Nation during a drive late in the third quarter Saturday. The freshman rushed on three straight plays for 62 yards, including one play where he lowered his shoulder, took a hit, and powered for a couple of extra yards. Fancy he’s not.

> Urban Meyer: “He’s a spark plug. It kind of fires me up.”
> Tebow: “I got a little different mentality. Sometimes I try to get a blow before I go out. I just think it’s fun.”

With QB Tim Tebow appearing in games mostly to run the ball, some might forget the freshman is, in fact, an actual quarterback.

> Meyer: “(People are starting to think that) when Tebow is in the game, it is going to be a run. So he can’t throw. No, I am just kidding. He is very comfortable (passing).”

QB Tim Tebow played mostly as a designated runner Saturday, including a crucial 4-and-1 late in the game. Tebow plummeted through the line for two yards.

> Tebow: “We practiced it all week. I was just trying to do what coach wanted me to do.”
> Urban Meyer: “To put the ball in his hands in that kind of situation shows the kind of respect we have for him.”

QB Tim Tebow will see action Saturday after another great week of practice.

> Urban Meyer: “I’ll wait and see (before deciding if Tebow plays in the first half). I don’t want to commit, but he certainly could be (in the game in the first half). He’s earned that right. He’s done very well.”
> Meyer: “He’s going to play. He’s had a good week. That’s two weeks in a row. The first week he was sick as a dog. He’s had two good weeks.”

Expect to see QB Tim Tebow in the first half Saturday.

> Urban Meyer: “I don’t want to commit to anything, but I am going to try to get him in early. He has earned it. He has practiced much better this week.'’

QB Tim Tebow’s dream finally came true late in the third quarter Saturday. The heralded freshman took the field with the Gators in the red zone, and capped off a short drive with a dive into the endzone after a muffed snap.

> Urban Meyer: “I remember the first time I put (former Utah QB) Alex Smith in there; his mouth was open and his heart was beating pretty quick. Tim’s was beating pretty quickly, too.”
> Meyer: “He’s going to be a great player here. It’s a lot of fun watching him play. He’s going to will himself in the end zone a bunch here.”
> Tebow: ‘’It was so exciting that I just wanted to go and celebrate with my teammates.”
> QB Chris Leak: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime feeling, it’s a great feeling to have. Your first touchdown — there’s no feeling like it. I was happy for him. I was mentoring him the entire time this summer. It was good to see someone you’ve been helping do so well. I picked him up (in the air).”
> Tebow: “It was really special. During training camp, we got really close. When I scored, he was one of the most excited players for me. When I scored, he gave me a big hug.”
> Leak: “He’s just getting his first game reps. The main thing I told him is, ‘Stay relaxed and keep composed.’ He understands what it’s like and what he needs to do now.”

QB Tim Tebow will see game action Saturday.

> Urban Meyer: “He’ll play. We don’t know exactly when; we have an idea. We’d like to get him in the game as early as possible. We haven’t set the exact time or play, but it won’t be the whole gamut because, to be honest with you, he can’t run the whole gamut. But there are going to be some plays (he can run). It’s a Tebow plan. We haven’t finalized it yet. We’ll probably do that Sunday.”
> Meyer: “We’ve just got to get him ready to play. He’s our backup quarterback.”
> WR Andre Caldwell: “With all the work he’s put in, he’s earned a chance to be out there a little bit,” Caldwell said. “Plus, he’s got to get used to the game. It’s going to be a coaches’ move. Tebow brings a lot of leadership. He’s a great runner, he’s got a strong arm and he knows how to run a team. He’s probably more advanced than most true freshmen coming into college. I just praise him because he did a great job coming in here at quarterback.”

QB Tim Tebow sat out Saturday’s practice with a 103-degree fever. The fever bug previously hit RB DeShawn Wynn, WR Andre Caldwell, CB Reggie Lewis, WR Kenneth Tookes and WR Dallas Baker.

> Urban Meyer: “(Tebow) was screaming at me when we wouldn’t let him (practice), but he was pretty sick in the locker room. We just have to get those guys away from our players and let it run its course.”

It seems you can’t read a Gator preview without encountering talk of QB Chris Leak hearing Tim Tebow’s footsteps behind him on the depth chart. In the meantime, the parties involved are preaching that Tebow’s role this year will be to learn.

> Tebow: “I’m going to be a senior one day. Chris is a great quarterback. This is his last season, and I’m just trying to learn everything I can from him. This is Chris’ team. He’s done a great job here for three years. I try not to think about [the controversy talk], because when I’m a senior, how am I going to feel?”
> Tebow: “I think we’re just two guys who like to compete and like to play football. He’s an older guy, and it’s good to play under someone like that and learn from him. It’s a good opportunity for me. He’s really a good guy, a humble guy. He just likes to play football, and so do I. We just need to go out there and have fun. I’m just going to focus on football and not pay attention to any of the other stuff.”
> Urban Meyer: “Your obligation as an older football player is to teach a younger player how to play. That’s been done for 150 years of the history of college football. When a freshman comes in, he learns from an upperclassman. Chris Leak learned how to play college football from Chris Leak. He never had that luxury. He was handed the ball in Game [Four] and was told, ‘Go play.’ That’s not the normal transition from high school to college. Tim Tebow has a great advantage over Chris Leak, because he’s learning from Chris Leak to learn to play the quarterback position. We’ve made that very clear to [Leak] over and over again that his responsibility is to develop the backup quarterback.”