Why Tim Tebow Is NOT the Best Ever

Florida Gator, SEC, and Tim Tebow fans are right now cringing, thinking, "Oh no, not another 'Tim Tebow is overrated' article!" Well, this is one from someone who is motivated by something other than sour grapes, someone who actually is a supporter of Tebow and, while not actually a fan of Florida, much preferred to see an SEC team winning a national title in 1996, 2006, and 2008 than FSU, Ohio State, and Oklahoma.

But calling Tim Tebow "the greatest ever" at this point is so unjustified, and further, the people who engage in this nonsense do so by committing a rotten, lowdown, dirty trick. What am I speaking of? Such people do so by pretending that the college career of Chris Leak did not exist.

Chris Leak? Remember him? He may be easy to forget, as his college career before the arrival of Urban Meyer to Gainesville was unspectacular. However, that was through no fault of his own, but his coach Ron Zook.

Also, his professional career since has been even more disappointing, failing to receive even the obligatory courtesy of getting drafted in the bottom of the seventh round for A) being a successful starting QB at a major school and B) winning a national title. He is now trying to make his way in the Canadian Football League.

Well, as easy as it is to push Leak aside in favor of his more celebrated and indeed better successor, it is still wrong. Leak was the unquestioned starter of the 2006 national championship team. The whole "Tim Tebow is the greatest ever" argument is based on either forgetting that fact entirely (by failing to mention it), or if it is mentioned, pretending as if Florida had some co-starter/two-QB arrangement.

Even the latter, depicting Tebow as some kind of "co-QB," is false. Do not get me wrong, Tebow was a vital piece of the 2006 team, not only giving them the semblance of a running game that they otherwise lacked, but also throwing two TD passes in a critical game against LSU, and giving Urban Meyer the ability to effectively run some elements of his offense situationally.

But even appropriately crediting him for all that, Tebow had only 358 passing yards and 469 rushing yards in 2006. So that is 827 total yards for Tebow versus Leak's 2,950 yards passing.

When you consider that nearly half of Tebow's 827 yards that year came against Western Carolina (250 yards) and Central Florida (140 yards), claiming that "Tim Tebow was a part-time starter and the reason why Florida won the national title that year," as the Sporting News does in one of their "Tim Tebow greatest ever" articles, is not an exaggeration.

It is a lie—a dishonest lie that does disservice to Chris Leak (whom a lot of people forget went 8-5 with a victory over national champs LSU in 2004 and 9-3 as a starter with a victory over SEC champs UGA in 2005, and was an accomplished SEC QB before Tebow ever arrived on campus).

So was Tim Tebow A REASON? Of course. But so was Percy Harvin. As a matter of fact, so were the nine Florida Gators who were drafted that year. This included practically their entire defensive line and secondary, most prominently first round picks Jarvis Moss and Reggie Nelson. You know, guys who actually started.

Tebow was nothing but a role player that year, and a backup to a QB in Leak that despite less than ideal circumstances (two head coaches, three offensive coordinators, and the last two years of his career in an offense that did not fit his talents, and oh yes, a significant portion of the Florida Gator fan base that hated his guts and scapegoated him for Ron Zook's failures) still managed to set a bunch of passing records.

So if you are going to make Tebow "the greatest ever," you are going to have to do it while throwing the 2006 national title out the window, or at least acknowledge that he was merely a contributor, not "part-time starter" or any other lead performer.

That 2006 title was the defense, Chris Leak, and of course the coaching staff led by Urban Meyer, but which included Greg Mattison (who got an underachieving defensive line into shape) and Meyer's wise decision to finally hire a decent strength and conditioning coach in Mickey Marotti.

So what has Tim Tebow done since 2006? A lot. 2007 was statistically outstanding, but it nonetheless included four losses, including in the big rivalry game to UGA and also in the bowl game to Michigan.

While Tebow's injuries played a key role in some of those losses (there is NO WAY that Florida loses to UGA, for instance, were Tebow not limited by injury), in the Michigan loss in particular Tebow simply failed to make the plays in the passing game, especially at the end, required to salvage a very winnable game. Division I-AA Appalachian State star Armanti Edwards played a better game against Michigan than Tebow did, period.

2008? Yes, Tebow did lead Florida to a national title. But, er, so have lots of people. One of them was Chris Leak, remember? And 2,750 passing yards and 675 rushing yards in a 14-game season...good but not great. And yes, Tim Tebow did not exactly play well in the home loss to Ole Miss.

The "Tim Tebow is the greatest ever!" line is based on pretending that Tebow looked as good the entire season as he did in that fourth quarter against Alabama. Indeed, that was the whole argument for Tebow's deserving the Heisman over Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy...the fourth quarter against Alabama.

But the truth is that Tim Tebow wasn't anywhere nearly that good for most of the season, and that includes most of the national title game.

Speaking of last games...Utah's Brian Johnson had a better game against Alabama than Tebow did. Comparing Johnson and Edwards to Tebow is relevant because they all run the same offense.

So the truth is that Tim Tebow is nowhere near the best college QB or player ever. As a matter of fact, he isn't even the best QB to play at Florida. That would be Danny Wuerffel! Huge numbers? Wuerffel had those. Heisman? Wuerffel had that. National title? Wuerffel did that as well.

Also, Wuerffel led Florida to two national title games, going 12-0 before the loss to Nebraska (not his fault—let us just say that Ron Zook was in his last game as Florida's defensive coordinator during the Nebraska game) and going 12-1 and avenging his only loss of the season against FSU the next year.

So, Tebow would need to lead Florida to the national title game next year just to tie Wuerffel, and would need to win it to surpass him.

Speaking of QBs that run Tim Tebow's offense: Vince Young. Claiming that Tebow's career to this point is better than Vince Young's is crazy.

Young was 30-2 as a starter, won a national title, was the first player in Division I-A to pass for 3,000 yards while rushing for 1,000, was the MVP of two straight Rose Bowls, and never lost a home game. (And this was with Mack Brown trying to turn Young into Chris Simms or Major Applewhite for more than half of his college career!)

So far from being "the best ever," Tebow has to win another national title before he can even claim to be the best I-A read option QB in the last five years!

How about a QB that didn't run Tim Tebow's offense but is certainly familiar with Vince Young: Matt Leinart! Huge numbers? Had them. Heisman? Check. Leinart also has two national titles to Tebow's one. Leinart was 37-2 as a starter with one loss in overtime and the second loss coming late in the fourth quarter to Vince Young and 12-0 Texas in the national title game.

So even if Tebow does win another national title and put up huge numbers and an undefeated season in doing so, Leinart will still have the better career.

The only way that Tebow can surpass Leinart is to win a second Heisman, and that would be by a hair, because anyone and everyone who saw Jason White's performances in BCS title games or Vince Young prove that he was a better player than both Leinart and Reggie Bush (no, USC fans, it wasn't Young's playing an exceptionally great game...the Rose Bowl wasn't even Young's best game that year, Ohio State was, and it was not even that much better than Young's first Rose Bowl performance) knows that any advantage that winning more Heismans gives Tebow over Leinart is small.

I place more importance on each of Tebow's TDs against LSU in 2006 than I do any Heisman.

Speaking of Vince Young, there is the issue of another QB from the Big 12 who never won a Heisman in Tommie Frazier. Honestly, even if Tim Tebow leads Florida to a 14-0 record with a consensus national title (meaning no Auburns and Utahs with a legitimate claim or argument), puts up big numbers, and wins another Heisman, he won't match Tommie Frazier.

Frazier won two national titles, both in perfect seasons. That is not all. Frazier came within a missed field goal (and very questionable officiating decisions that all favored FSU...fortunately the Cornhuskers had the class not to complain!) of winning three national titles in a row and seeing his Cornhuskers go more than three years without losing a single game.

Even that is not all. Frazier was practically a true four-year starter. He began his true freshman season on the bench, but soon won the starting job and led Nebraska to the Big 8 title, losing the Orange Bowl to FSU and Charlie Ward but more than covering the point spread to the heavily favored Seminoles and actually winning player of the game honors. Frazier also missed several games in his junior year due to blood clots.

His backup, the late Brook Berringer, had to step in during those games, and that, Gator and Tebow fans, was an actual "part-time starter" or "co-starter" arrangement.

But even with those mitigating factors, Nebraska lost five games in the four years that Tommie Frazier was there, and only one was a conference game. Frazier was the Orange Bowl MVP three years in a row, plus the Fiesta Bowl MVP. Frazier produced three undefeated regular seasons and two undefeated national title seasons, and again was a missed field goal as time expired against FSU from producing three.

I should also point out: Had the BCS existed in 1993, FSU would have never even played in that game. Nebraska would have played—and absolutely crushed—West Virginia, who also had an undefeated regular season. FSU played in the title game with a loss.

So where Frazier was harmed by the BCS by not getting to play West Virginia in 1993, Tim Tebow likely benefitted by avoiding USC in 2008. If Tebow threw two picks against Oklahoma's defense...well, USC had the best defense since Auburn in 1988. Meanwhile, Tommie Frazier's play in his three bowl games (again, all are now BCS games) was nearly flawless, which was why he was the MVP of even the two games that he lost.

The only way to make any case for Tebow's having been better than Tommie Frazier is to nullify in your minds the fact that Chris Leak was not only the unquestioned starter but leader and key player on offense of the 2006 team, and then credit Tebow with three titles to Frazier's two IF Tebow wins another title next year.

The amazing thing: Even if you do that, it is still mighty close, as Frazier will have still had the same or better winning percentage and four conference titles.

But once you acknowledge Tebow's true role in the 2006 team, he has no shot at catching Frazier no matter what he does next year. His only shot at surpassing Matt Leinart is winning a national title and a Heisman next year. And he needs to win a second conference title even to pass Vince Young. (That's right, Tebow and Young have the same number of conference titles: one.)

So Tim Tebow will need a great season next year (a conference title and BCS bowl game victory) even to pass Vince Young as the best dual threat QB of the decade, and even that won't get him past Danny Wuerffel as the best Florida QB ever, as Wuerffel was the starting QB for three SEC titles and a legitimate co-starter for a fourth.

He will need an outstanding season (national title plus Heisman) to surpass Matt Leinart as the best QB of the decade. And no matter what he does, he will not surpass Tommie Frazier as the greatest QB of the past two decades.

So the truth is that unless you whitewash Chris Leak from existence, Tebow has nowhere approaching a case for the best QB of the past 20 years, let alone the best college player ever, regardless of era or position. So in order to be truthful and honest, people need to quit lying. Tim Tebow is an excellent player and by all accounts a great person, but his career to this point comes nowhere close to justifying this "greatest ever" hype.

Again, that is just limiting the discussion to QBs...have SEC fans forgotten Herschel Walker? That is another guy that Tebow would have to win another national title before we can even start to talk about his surpassing.

So quit giving Tebow all of this undeserved hype, and give him (and other great players, including Chris Leak) no more or less than what they deserve.