Tim Tebow is Urban Meyer’s guy. No doubt about it. The quarterback and head coach duo achieved lots of great success at Florida which helped both of them get paid at their next stops. It’s no surprise why Meyer will go to bat for his misfiring southpaw every chance he gets.
“I still don’t get that part of it,” Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days. “He’s the second-most efficient passer ever to play college football.”
If Urban Meyer really is confused as to why his star protege isn’t gainfully employed in a league that employs such “stars” as Blaine Gabbert and Brandon Weeden, let’s shed some light on it.
Urban, we know you love Tim and you absolutely should. He’s a great guy and he helped you considerably during your time at Florida. But a great NFL quarterback isn’t always made from a great college quarterback.
You see in the NFL, playing quarterback at a high level requires a signal caller to have accuracy. For all the great things about Tim Tebow, he simply is not an accurate passer of the football.
This isn’t just my opinion, it’s backed up with stats and anyone with a pair of objective eyes can clearly see that. Tebow’s career completion percentage is 47.9. Roughly eight percent lower than Brandon Weeden and nearly six percent lower than Blaine Gabbert. In fact he has a lower completion percentage than quite possibly the greatest first-round bust of them all, Jamarcus Russell.
During the Broncos “magical” 2011 season in which Tebow helped them to a .500 season while winning a playoff game, he completed just 46.5 percent of his throws. According to Pro Football Talk, Tebow was the first quarterback to throw 270 passes in a season while completing so few of them since the legendary Craig Whelihan in 1998 (who never played again in the NFL).
“He had really good personnel around him (at Florida) and we utilized his skill very well,” Meyer said. “I think in a traditional setting, it is difficult, but there’s a lot of non-traditional offenses now in the NFL.
It’s true that Tebow did have very good personnel around him at Florida. Isn’t it conceivable to think that great personnel with all of those first-round NFL Draft picks actually lifted up Tebow’s game and hid his flaws.
It’s understandable that Meyer is going to bat for his guy. However, Tebow has had plenty of opportunities to succeed. Three teams took a chance on him to play quarterback and he’s failed three times. That’s two or three more chances than a lot of good college football players received. Teams have offered Tebow the opportunity to switch positions- he’s refused.
Again, it’s great that Urban Meyer is going to stick up for his former player, but at this point it carries zero credibility. You don’t hear Mack Brown openly campaigning for Vince Young, do you? Pete Carroll for Matt Leinart? Jim Tressel for Troy Smith? They were all great college quarterbacks who couldn’t make it on the next level either.
Tim Tebow could still be playing professional football if he “lowered himself” to go to the CFL or switch positions. He obviously cares more about his image than the game that he supposedly loves. Most of his defenders swear he’s the hardest working guy anyone has ever seen. If so, work on your game in a lesser league if you’re not afraid of failing there as well.
Or you can wait for Urban Meyer to get an NFL job. Surely, he’ll bring his guy in to be his starting quarterback and win titles like the good ‘ole days.
