Every college sport, football included, is in constant recycling mode. Stars come. And they go, bound to a four- or five-year clock. New ones come, and they go.
But in Tim Tebow's case, the routine isn't … well, so routine.
A week ago, his coach at Florida was moved to tears as the senior quarterback approached his final game at home, against Florida State. Countless cameras and cellphones flashed as Tebow ran through his final series of plays. He and the Gators won big, preserving their No. 1 BCS ranking.
Tebow has won a Heisman Trophy. Depending in part on how he performs Saturday, he could become the second player in the award's 75-year history to collect a second. He owns two national championship rings, and beckoning in Pasadena is a shot at a remarkable third in four seasons.
That would seem a fitting denouement for a rare 22-year-old whose talent, virtue and timing — have rendered him perhaps the most exalted college athlete of all time.
Vince Dooley once coached for 25 Hall of Fame seasons at Georgia and has seen his fair share of talented football players and this is what he had to say about Tebow, “Athleticism. Leadership. Charity work. His faith. You name it. I've never seen anybody who had all that in one package," he says.
"That's what puts him in a class by himself."
The son of missionaries, Tebow inherited his mother's and father's religious devotion and social conscience. He goes on missions. He has spoken and prayed in prisons, in an orphanage, in a leper colony. He's a frequent hospital volunteer.
Taking his cue, Florida coach Urban Meyer and his family took a mission trip two summers ago, and Tebow's teammates have joined him in a charity fundraiser the last two years in which they compete in tire-flipping and other strongman events.
"It's almost like selflessness is now a cool thing," Meyer says of Tebow's impact on those around him.
Package that decency into the 6-3, 240-pound body of an elite athlete. Add instinct, natural leadership, an inextinguishable will to win — and not only the will but a knack for winning.
Tebow's record as a starter at Florida is 34-5. He and the Gators (12-0) carry a two-year, 22-game winning streak into their showdown with Alabama (12-0).
He doesn't duck the attention. "There are a lot of athletes out there with a lot of platforms and a lot of opportunities to influence a lot of people and, unfortunately, there aren't many who take advantage of it and use it in a positive manner," Tebow says. "That's very disappointing. They could have huge impact on kids' lives and people's lives and even on communities and states and countries."
He concedes, "There've been moments, there've been days, when you get tired, you get frustrated, you get exhausted. You want people to believe you're doing things for the right reason, but sometimes people just look at the negative. 'It's fake. Or it's this or that.' … That's when my faith really encourages me that everything happens for a reason and God has a plan."
Fire and devotion…
ESPN was apt in entitling a documentary of his 2005 senior season of football at Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Fla., Tim Tebow: The Chosen One.
Tebow's presence has grown significantly since then. A Google search of his name delivers more than 600,000 entries. You can choose from nearly 2,500 Tebow-related links on YouTube. He has graced more Sports Illustrated covers — six in the last 16 months, sharing a seventh with two other players — than any other college athlete.
Last Saturday, after Tebow took the field against FSU and continued his tradition of inscribing a Bible verse on the glare-reducing black patches beneath his eyes, his chosen "Hebrews 12:1-2" was Google's third-most popular search term. When he cited "John 3:16" during the national championship game against Oklahoma last January, it was the day's No. 1-searched-for term.
He resonates nationally in a sport in which public interest tends to be regional. And his appeal transcends football.
When Tebow and Florida ran through their final practice of the past spring, Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean was seen scribbling notes to the side. He was in the area to recruit, he said, but he also wanted to see how the Gators coaches ran things. And he was fascinated with their quarterback.
"We used Tim in different video hits this year," Crean explained, "to show just toughness personified, doing whatever it takes, great leadership, never flinching in the pocket."
At Tennessee, budding women's basketball star Taber Spani points to Tebow as her role model. She was home-schooled as he was. Her Christian beliefs run deep, too, and the freshman guard from Lee's Summit, Mo., says Tebow's mission work inspires her to do the same.
Plus, "I love the fire he plays with," says Spani, the daughter of former Kansas State and Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Gary Spani. "It reminds me a lot of my dad when he played football. I think his spirit is contagious, and it spreads throughout the entire team as well as the fans. The way he leads his team is something I aspire to do here."
When he was a freshman and a backup to Chris Leak on the Florida team that won the 2006 national championship, Tebow commonly saw the field in short-yardage and goal-line situations, running for eight touchdowns and throwing for five more. By the time the Gators won it all again in 2008, Tebow was their centerpiece.
With a 66% completion rate, 84 TD passes and 15 interceptions in 53 career games, the left-hander is on pace to be the highest-rated passer in major-college history — his mathematical efficiency rating of 170.4 now bettering the record 168.9 set by Boise State's Ryan Dinwiddie from 2000 to 2003. Tebow also has piled up more total yardage (11,389) and been responsible for more touchdowns (140 passing and rushing) than any other player in SEC history.
"In terms of what he has accomplished and the character he's shown and the things he's done to make the world a better place and live up to his values, it's very impressive."
