You may not realize this, but the greatest college football player of this era is Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. At least, the Miami Herald reports, that’s what his coach Urban Meyer told some assembled boosters in Miami recently.
Sure Tebow’s won the Heisman, but I have never seen him singlehandedly take a team to the national championship like Vince Young – who has also helped to take the Titans into the playoffs. And I would argue that Reggie Bush, Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart were better college players than Tim Tebow. And don’t forget the Purple Jesus himself, Adrian Peterson. So while I’m sure Meyer was just trying to pimp the Gators and his quarterback, I also think that he’s underestimating the intelligence of the average college football fan.
But I’ve got another problem with Tebow, specifically the fact that he wants nothing to do with the Playboy preseason All-American football team. Who doesn’t want anything to do with Playboy? Supposedly it’s some kind of religious thing, but seeing as how he’s not supposed to be photographed with any naked women, the objection is just kind of hard to believe.
Oh well, maybe I’m just jealous because I’ll never get the chance to be that close to the Girls Next Door. But nothing you can say is going to convince that Tebow is the greatest college football player of this era. – John Royal
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2008.
