Tim Tebow is coming off a miserable season in which he never got a chance to show whether or not he can be an NFL quarterback. But Tebow’s college coach says Tebow can and will still get that chance.
Urban Meyer, the Ohio State coach who was Tebow’s coach at Florida, said on Mike and Mike in the Morning that he’s sure Tebow can be an NFL quarterback -- if only some NFL team will let him play the position the way he plays it. Meyer, who has been one of the most successful coaches at employing the spread offense in college football, says he’s starting to see spread concepts employed successfully in the NFL, and he’s sure Tebow can have the same level of success as Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepernick and Cam Newton if Tebow plays in an offense tailored to his skills.
“We watched RGIII at the Washington Redskins, Wilson at the Seahawks, the new quarterback at the 49ers, and Carolina, and they are actually running a spread offense in the NFL,” Meyer said. “So my hope is, and I’m sure Tim feels the same way, is to go play in one of those systems where they let him play.”
Meyer is certainly right that Tebow has a much better chance of succeeding in the NFL if some team will tailor its offense to his skills. However, the reality is that Griffin, Wilson, Kaepernick and Newton are all both better passers than Tebow and better athletes than Tebow. We’ve seen in the NFL in the last couple of years that some of those spread offense concepts can work in the NFL. But that doesn’t necessarily mean those offenses can work in the NFL with Tebow running them.
Still, Meyer says Tebow is upbeat and ready to play somewhere.
“I talk to him every week, and he’s still the most positive guy I’ve ever been around,” Meyer said. “He was so excited to go to New York and play for coach Ryan and the whole situation there. It didn’t turn out, but you have to move on.”
Tebow would love to move on with some coach who will show the same confidence in him that Meyer has.