At the 2010 Senior Bowl, Tim Tebow played on the team coached by then-Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano. Two years later, Tebow says that experience is paying off.
Tebow told Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post that he’s been using the playbook Sparano taught the players during Senior Bowl week to get himself ready for the Jets’ offseason work, when he’ll be playing for Sparano, who’s now the Jets’ offensive coordinator, again.
“I kept [Sparano’s] Senior Bowl playbook — I keep everything — and I’ve been going over every page of it,” Tebow said. “I’m sure a lot of it still applies, even though that was a couple of years ago. I’m also excited to see what [Sparano] has new planned for me.”
The NFL’s rules prevent Tebow from getting the Jets’ playbook until tomorrow, when the offseason program begins. So studying the Senior Bowl playbook is the closest Tebow can come to learning the offense now.
Still, studying the plays Sparano gave the college players at the Senior Bowl a couple years ago isn’t the same thing as knowing the plays he’ll have to run with the Jets this year. So when the offseason program does start tomorrow, Tebow says he’ll be the first guy in the building.
“I’m going to be there early — as in ‘crack-of-dawn’ early,” Tebow said. “This is what I’ve been waiting for since the trade happened, and I want to make a good impression.”