FOUR BITS: Tebow’s illness, Bress comparisons

By Adam Silverstein
January 30, 2010

1 » One story surrounding the 2010 Under Armour Senior Bowl was former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow’s lingering illness. Believed to be a strep throat early in the week, Tebow was actually suffering from a viral infection of his esophagus. Pam Tebow, Tim’s mother, said his sickness was “much worse than strep throat” and caused eating to be too painful for him throughout the week. Tebow met with a doctor all week and lost more than 10 pounds over the course of the week.

2 » While many sports writers have spent the last week criticizing Tebow, Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel took a look at the situation from another angle. Former Purdue Boilermakers head coach Joe Tiller, who coached Drew Brees, Curtis Painter and Kyle Orton (among others), laughed at all of Tebow’s doubters. “I can remember NFL critics saying the same thing when Drew was a senior,” Tiller told Mandel. “‘He’s in that Purdue offense all the time. He lines up in the shotgun all the time, and our guys line up under center. It’s not like college football has a monopoly on the shotgun formation. Now that I’m out of coaching, I’ve watched more NFL football this year than I have the last 10 years combined. There’s hardly any team in the league that doesn’t have their quarterback in the shotgun anymore. […] The entire league is doing what Drew Brees was criticized for coming out of college. […] Actually, I think a guy coming out in the shotgun is better equipped than a guy coming out of center.”

3 » Fifty-one University of Florida student athletes were named to the 2009-10 Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll for the fall semester. Football led the way with 23 honorees, followed by soccer (18) and volleyball (10). Prominent names on the list include Tebow, sophomore RB Jeff Demps, junior punter Chas Henry, senior kicker Jonathan Phillips and junior kicker Caleb Sturgis.

4 » Florida track and field was responsible eight provisional-qualifying marks/times, three event wins and two NCAA automatic-qualifying marks/times during the Texas A&M Challenge in College Station, TX, on Saturday. The second half of the event was highlighted by thrower Mariam Kevkhishvili and jumper Shara Proctor, who earned the NCAA automatic-qualifying bids. For more information on the Gators’ performances over the weekend, click here (day one) or here (day two).

6 Comments

  1. O-town Gator says:

    I still can’t believe how much ESPN is knocking Tebow over what he did at the Senior Bowl. For him to be out there playing when he was as ill as he was is something to be admired, not scorned. The pundits can dissect his performance all they want, but one thing they can’t accuse him of being is a sissy. That speaks volumes for his character, and I’m sure that’s why he chose those verses of Scripture to cite on his eye-black.

  2. Brittany says:

    I would be fine with them scrutinizing his performance if they were including the fact that the O-line was awful. From what I’ve seen so far they are making it out like he had some horrible, horrible performance and the South lost all because of him.

  3. negel says:

    Here is a link saying Tebow is a good nfl quarterback. http://bit.ly/cDIFHT

  4. Drew 4 Orange and Blue says:

    I agree that playing out of the shotgun is important coming out of college but how difficult would it have been to have Tebow run 30-40 plays under center this year? Between that and not at least attempting to correct him dropping the ball so low is disapointing. Meyer certainly isn’t paid to groom QB’s but I think with Tebow coming back for his senior year it could have been done without affecting the team. That being said I don’t think how he played will have much of an impact but the affect he had on ticket sales and ratings you can bet will be a factor.

  5. O-town Gator says:

    Drew, Urban Meyer isn’t being paid to prepare individual players for the NFL; he’s being paid to help his team win championships. I’m so sick and tired of others criticising the Gator offense and those bitching about wanting a “pro-style” installed instead of the spread.

  6. Drew 4 Orange and Blue says:

    O-town, I said Urban wasn’t paid to groom QB’s and I didn’t complain about the offense. But how big of a deal would it have been for Tebow to go under center for 3-5 plays a game and to keep the ball higher in his delivery? I think it would have been good for Tebow and good for the Gators.

Join The
Discussion

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux