Brent Holloway is the sports editor for The Times. Contact him at bholloway@gainesvilletimes.com.
If you’re one of the many who thought former Florida quarterback and golden demigod Tim Tebow got too much face-time as a college player, you might want to steer clear of ESPN for the next few years.
You just thought Mark May was annoying.
Months before Tebow ever takes (or muffs) his first professional snap, the engine is already humming on the NFL hype machine.
This week, Tebow and 100 or so other NFL hopefuls are being poked, prodded, measured and photographed in South Alabama in practices for this weekend’s Senior Bowl. And like hounds on the hunt, the hundreds of scouts, reporters and various hangers-on have sprung from the gates to breathlessly report...
“He fumbled a snap.”
For that, I’ve interrupted my lunch?
Forgive me for beating a long-dead horse, but if I remember correctly, Reggie Ball was a wiz at taking a snap. It’s just everything that happened afterward that turned out to be a disaster.
Tebow, like him, love him or loathe him, will go down as one of the greatest college football players of all time. But as Archie Griffin — still the only two-time Heisman winner — would tell you, that doesn’t guarantee NFL success.
Tebow might or might not cut it as a professional quarterback.
Personally, I’m one of those who quit betting against him a long time ago.
A 230-pound quarterback can’t grind out the hard yardage in the SEC, we said.
Freshman year: 469 rushing yards, 5.3 yards per carry, eight touchdowns.
So we amended that to “he’ll never be a complete quarterback.”
Sophomore year: 3,286 passing yards, 32 TDs, six interceptions.
At some point, it’s best to quit fighting it and go with the flow. But the current of prevailing opinion that once was strong at Tebow’s back has reversed course.
A few projections for Tebow place him in the first round of this year’s NFL draft, but after a so-so showing this week, he’s plummeting down draft boards and many experts see a switch to tight end in his future.
But whether or not he has the goods won’t be discovered this weekend, and I wouldn’t look to the experts for clues, either. Don’t forget, these are the same guys who brought us Akili Smith and lauded Ryan Leaf’s quick trigger and brilliant release point.
ESPN draft-nik Todd McShay went as far as to say that he’d never seen a quarterback with such obvious delivery issues as Tebow has. Quite an indictment. But this is coming from the same analyst that in 2007 had never been so “in awe” of a
quarterback as he was of Jamarcus Russell.
To refresh, Russell was picked No. 1 that April by the Oakland Raiders, and in three professional seasons since has 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.
That’s not to say McShay doesn’t know what he’s doing. On the contrary, he’s one of the best — which only proves all the bluster coming out of Alabama this week is little more than the hot air of conjecture and guesswork.
You just thought Mark May was annoying.
Months before Tebow ever takes (or muffs) his first professional snap, the engine is already humming on the NFL hype machine.
This week, Tebow and 100 or so other NFL hopefuls are being poked, prodded, measured and photographed in South Alabama in practices for this weekend’s Senior Bowl. And like hounds on the hunt, the hundreds of scouts, reporters and various hangers-on have sprung from the gates to breathlessly report...
“He fumbled a snap.”
For that, I’ve interrupted my lunch?
Forgive me for beating a long-dead horse, but if I remember correctly, Reggie Ball was a wiz at taking a snap. It’s just everything that happened afterward that turned out to be a disaster.
Tebow, like him, love him or loathe him, will go down as one of the greatest college football players of all time. But as Archie Griffin — still the only two-time Heisman winner — would tell you, that doesn’t guarantee NFL success.
Tebow might or might not cut it as a professional quarterback.
Personally, I’m one of those who quit betting against him a long time ago.
A 230-pound quarterback can’t grind out the hard yardage in the SEC, we said.
Freshman year: 469 rushing yards, 5.3 yards per carry, eight touchdowns.
So we amended that to “he’ll never be a complete quarterback.”
Sophomore year: 3,286 passing yards, 32 TDs, six interceptions.
At some point, it’s best to quit fighting it and go with the flow. But the current of prevailing opinion that once was strong at Tebow’s back has reversed course.
A few projections for Tebow place him in the first round of this year’s NFL draft, but after a so-so showing this week, he’s plummeting down draft boards and many experts see a switch to tight end in his future.
But whether or not he has the goods won’t be discovered this weekend, and I wouldn’t look to the experts for clues, either. Don’t forget, these are the same guys who brought us Akili Smith and lauded Ryan Leaf’s quick trigger and brilliant release point.
ESPN draft-nik Todd McShay went as far as to say that he’d never seen a quarterback with such obvious delivery issues as Tebow has. Quite an indictment. But this is coming from the same analyst that in 2007 had never been so “in awe” of a
quarterback as he was of Jamarcus Russell.
To refresh, Russell was picked No. 1 that April by the Oakland Raiders, and in three professional seasons since has 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.
That’s not to say McShay doesn’t know what he’s doing. On the contrary, he’s one of the best — which only proves all the bluster coming out of Alabama this week is little more than the hot air of conjecture and guesswork.