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BATON ROUGE — Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is taller at 6-foot-3 and bigger at 235 pounds than two of LSU’s starting linebackers and nearly all of its defensive backs.
“That’s ridiculous,” said middle linebacker Darry Beckwith, who is 6-1 and 230 pounds, and he meant it in a nice way. Outside linebacker Ali Highsmith is also smaller than Tebow at 6-1 and 223 pounds. So is strong safety Craig Steltz at 6-2 and 209.
"In the open field? I'd say you'd have to chop him down," Steltz said. "And get him wrapped up. He's just an incredible football player when he's running the ball."
Beckwith said he hadn't seen anything like him at quarterback.
“He’s a very physical guy. He’s one of the strongest guys on the team, and he plays quarterback," Beckwith said. "It’s ridiculous.”
Tebow will be running and passing in Tiger Stadium Saturday when No. 1 LSU (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) hosts No. 9 Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. on CBS. The sophomore from Nease High School in Jacksonville, Fla., in many ways is the Florida team this year.
He is the Gators’ leading rusher by nearly a football field and a half over tailback Kestahn Moore with 433 yards on 89 carries to 286 on 56 attempts and has twice as many touchdowns with eight, which equals the school record for quarterbacks.
Tebow is also sixth in the Southeastern Conference in rushing with 86.6 yards a game. He set the school record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 166 on 27 attempts in a 30-24 win at Ole Miss on Sept. 22. His 5.3-yard average per carry last season was No. 2 nationally among quarterbacks.
He leads the Southeastern Conference in passing efficiency this season and is third nationally with a 185.4 rating. Tebow has completed 85 of 122 passes for 1,297 yards and 11 touchdowns with two interceptions. In the first start of his career in the opener this season, he threw for 300 yards against Western Kentucky.
Tebow leads the SEC in total offense with 346 yards a game and is seventh nationally. Some have said he is being used too much and won’t last because of the punishment.
“I don’t know,” Tebow told reporters this week. “We are just trying to win games and do whatever we can to win the game – whatever it takes. We’ve still been trying to spread the ball around, but that is just how the game has gone a little bit.”
LSU quarterback Matt Flynn, who was supposed to run often this season but has been gimpy since the second game of the season with an ankle injury, marvels at Tebow’s dual duties.
“I don’t really see it as the future of quarterbacks,” he said. “But he does it well. He’s a special athlete. I don’t think that’s what most quarterbacks would be comfortable with. In most offenses that wouldn’t be the case, where the quarterback is the main ball carrier and the passer.”
But most quarterbacks are not like Tebow, who threw for 9,940 yards and 95 touchdowns in three seasons at Nease while rushing for 3,169 yards and 63 touchdowns and playing basketball and baseball.
“He’s the ultimate warrior,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “He’ll do everything in his power to win.”
Tebow threw for 201 yards and rushed for 75 against Auburn last week, but Florida lost 20-17 for the first home setback in Meyer’s three-year career at Florida.
“Everybody was heart broken over it and agonizing,” Tebow said. “It was a tough loss for us.”
A team meeting followed.
“The guys were upset, disappointed and agonizing because our guys care so much,” Tebow said. “I think there is a lot that guys are going to take from the game as motivation. I think we’ll try to rally around our leaders and the coaches and kind of go back to basics.”
Unless there are drastic changes, Florida’s offense is basically Tebow.
“Swarming that quarterback is what we are going to have to do,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “To me, it is not only about tackling low, but getting 11 hats to the ball.”
The first hat could well be Beckwith’s as one of Florida’s favorite plays is Tebow up the middle behind two large fullbacks. When that happens, it won’t be their first meeting.
“I met him on his recruiting visit two years ago,” Beckwith said. “He was a quiet guy, just walking around the weight room. We just shook hands.”
Beckwith hopes he has plenty of hands with him for Tebow next time.
“I’ve never played against a quarterback like this by far,” Beckwith said. “I watched him play Saturday, and he makes some great plays. We’ve just got to continue to hit him and hit him and hit him and maybe wear him down.”
Tebow will be ready.
“As far as taking hits or anything like that, I feel fine,” he said. “My body is good.”
From thenewsstar.com
“That’s ridiculous,” said middle linebacker Darry Beckwith, who is 6-1 and 230 pounds, and he meant it in a nice way. Outside linebacker Ali Highsmith is also smaller than Tebow at 6-1 and 223 pounds. So is strong safety Craig Steltz at 6-2 and 209.
"In the open field? I'd say you'd have to chop him down," Steltz said. "And get him wrapped up. He's just an incredible football player when he's running the ball."
Beckwith said he hadn't seen anything like him at quarterback.
“He’s a very physical guy. He’s one of the strongest guys on the team, and he plays quarterback," Beckwith said. "It’s ridiculous.”
Tebow will be running and passing in Tiger Stadium Saturday when No. 1 LSU (5-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) hosts No. 9 Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. on CBS. The sophomore from Nease High School in Jacksonville, Fla., in many ways is the Florida team this year.
He is the Gators’ leading rusher by nearly a football field and a half over tailback Kestahn Moore with 433 yards on 89 carries to 286 on 56 attempts and has twice as many touchdowns with eight, which equals the school record for quarterbacks.
Tebow is also sixth in the Southeastern Conference in rushing with 86.6 yards a game. He set the school record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 166 on 27 attempts in a 30-24 win at Ole Miss on Sept. 22. His 5.3-yard average per carry last season was No. 2 nationally among quarterbacks.
He leads the Southeastern Conference in passing efficiency this season and is third nationally with a 185.4 rating. Tebow has completed 85 of 122 passes for 1,297 yards and 11 touchdowns with two interceptions. In the first start of his career in the opener this season, he threw for 300 yards against Western Kentucky.
Tebow leads the SEC in total offense with 346 yards a game and is seventh nationally. Some have said he is being used too much and won’t last because of the punishment.
“I don’t know,” Tebow told reporters this week. “We are just trying to win games and do whatever we can to win the game – whatever it takes. We’ve still been trying to spread the ball around, but that is just how the game has gone a little bit.”
LSU quarterback Matt Flynn, who was supposed to run often this season but has been gimpy since the second game of the season with an ankle injury, marvels at Tebow’s dual duties.
“I don’t really see it as the future of quarterbacks,” he said. “But he does it well. He’s a special athlete. I don’t think that’s what most quarterbacks would be comfortable with. In most offenses that wouldn’t be the case, where the quarterback is the main ball carrier and the passer.”
But most quarterbacks are not like Tebow, who threw for 9,940 yards and 95 touchdowns in three seasons at Nease while rushing for 3,169 yards and 63 touchdowns and playing basketball and baseball.
“He’s the ultimate warrior,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “He’ll do everything in his power to win.”
Tebow threw for 201 yards and rushed for 75 against Auburn last week, but Florida lost 20-17 for the first home setback in Meyer’s three-year career at Florida.
“Everybody was heart broken over it and agonizing,” Tebow said. “It was a tough loss for us.”
A team meeting followed.
“The guys were upset, disappointed and agonizing because our guys care so much,” Tebow said. “I think there is a lot that guys are going to take from the game as motivation. I think we’ll try to rally around our leaders and the coaches and kind of go back to basics.”
Unless there are drastic changes, Florida’s offense is basically Tebow.
“Swarming that quarterback is what we are going to have to do,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “To me, it is not only about tackling low, but getting 11 hats to the ball.”
The first hat could well be Beckwith’s as one of Florida’s favorite plays is Tebow up the middle behind two large fullbacks. When that happens, it won’t be their first meeting.
“I met him on his recruiting visit two years ago,” Beckwith said. “He was a quiet guy, just walking around the weight room. We just shook hands.”
Beckwith hopes he has plenty of hands with him for Tebow next time.
“I’ve never played against a quarterback like this by far,” Beckwith said. “I watched him play Saturday, and he makes some great plays. We’ve just got to continue to hit him and hit him and hit him and maybe wear him down.”
Tebow will be ready.
“As far as taking hits or anything like that, I feel fine,” he said. “My body is good.”
From thenewsstar.com
