tim tebow

In a season in which the uncommon became commonplace and each week offered the elimination of another previously held truism regarding college football, one more never-going-to-happen event took place last night at the 73rd Heisman Trophy Award ceremony.

A sophomore took home the sport's most celebrated honor for the first time.

Florida's Tim Tebow, who himself expunged some previously held notions about a quarterback being able to run and pass with equal efficiency, won with 1,957 points (462-first-place votes), becoming the first Gator to take the award since Danny Wuerffel in 1996. Darren McFadden, the Arkansas running back who was the runner-up to Ohio State's Troy Smith last season, finished second with 1,703 points (291 first-place votes).




Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan was third with 632 points and Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel was next with 425.

"There's a lot of great players that had great seasons as freshmen and sophomores and didn't win," Tebow said. "It's an honor to accomplish that."

He accomplished it during a Heisman campaign that in many ways reflected college football's regular season that started with I-AA Appalachian State upsetting then-No.5 Michigan and ended with a team from Honolulu making it to a BCS Bowl.

Just as no team could latch onto and hold the No.1 or 2 ranking, no Heisman candidate successfully separated himself from the field the way Smith did last season or USC's Reggie Bush did in 2005. And as early-season favorites like Michigan's Mike Hart, Rutgers' Ray Rice or Boston College's Matt Ryan fell off the radar, Tebow's numbers couldn't be ignored, sophomore or not.

Tebow helped lead Florida to last year's national title, sharing time with but mostly playing behind starter Chris Leak. In his first full year as a starter, Florida went 9-3, landing in the Capital One Bowl Jan. 1 against Michigan. But the 235-pound quarterback earned almost cultlike status in Gainesville, playing at times more like a running back, the perfect fit many envisioned coming out of high school for Florida's spread offense.

Tebow threw for 3,132 yards and 29 touchdowns with only six interceptions. He also rushed for 838 yards and an SEC-record 22 touchdowns, which gave him an NCAA-record 51 total touchdowns. He was the first player in NCAA history to pass and throw for 20 or more touchdowns.

"Fifty-one touchdowns in a season is unbelievable," said Daniel, who ranked fifth in the NCAA this season in passing yards (4,170) and fifth in touchdown passes (33). "He deserved it. Everyone knew it was going to him."

Even Brennan, the NCAA career record holder for TD passes (131) who averaged 379.5 yards per game in leading Hawaii to a 12-0 record and a spot in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1 against Georgia, shook his head at Tebow's numbers. "He had an unbelievable season," Brennan said. "I really think he deserved it."

Though Brennan's coach, June Jones, hinted he did not, causing a stir last week in saying Tebow's numbers were the product of the "system" in which he played. Florida coach Urban Meyer bristled. "Personnel is all that matters and Tim Tebow can run any offense," Meyer said. "That's one coach's opinion. This was a great player making great plays."

Tebow said he didn't seriously consider his Heisman chances until the Gators' third-to-last game against South Carolina, a 51-31 victory in which Tebow passed for 304 yards and ran for 120. He passed for two TDs and added two on the ground.

"After that is when I really thought I might have a chance," Tebow said.

Now that he has broken the Heisman sophomore jinx, the question becomes if Tebow can equal the two Heismans won by Archie Griffin or, gulp, can he surpass the Buckeye great by winning three?

Tebow laughed at the suggestion. He's happy with one. "It's surreal, I don't know what it means right now," Tebow said. "Knowing that forever, the rest of my life, I'll be known as a Heisman Trophy winner ... it's overwhelming."

Tim Tebow
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Tim Tebow


College Florida
Conference SEC
Sport Football
Position QB
Jersey # 15
Class Sophomore
Major Family, Youth and Community Sciences
Career 2006 � present
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 235 lb (107 kg)
Nationality United States
Born August 14, 1987 (1987-08-14) (age 20)
Philippines
High school Homeschooled,
played for Nease High School, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Awards
2007 Heisman Memorial Trophy Award
2007 Davey O'Brien Award
2007 Maxwell Award
Bowl games
2007 BCS Championship - Florida 41, OSU 14
Timothy Richard Tebow[1] (born August 14, 1987) is an American football quarterback for the Florida Gators and winner of the 2007 Heisman Trophy, finishing ahead of (respectively) Arkansas's Darren McFadden, Hawaii's Colt Brennan, and Missouri's Chase Daniel.

He played quarterback for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he became a Division I-A recruit and ranked among the top quarterback prospects in the nation.[2] He chose to attend the University of Florida. A dual-threat quarterback who can run and pass, he was used in his freshman season largely as a change-of-pace to the Gators' more traditional pocket passer, Chris Leak.[3] His contribution as a key reserve helped the Gators win college football's national championship game for the first time since 1996.

A sophomore in 2007, he became the Gators' starting quarterback and has broken Southeastern Conference records for rushing touchdowns and touchdowns accounted for.[4] He also became the first NCAA player to rush and pass for 20 touchdowns in a season.[5] His performance has earned him the Maxwell Award as the nation's top player and the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's best quarterback, and made him the first underclassman to win the Heisman Trophy.




Early life
The fifth child of Bob and Pam Tebow, both of whom are University of Florida graduates, Tim was born on August 14, 1987 in the Philippines, where his parents were serving as Christian missionaries.[6] Pam suffered infection with a pathogenic amoeba while pregnant with him, and an abortion was recommended by her doctors. She chose to go through with the pregnancy.[7]

All of the Tebow children were homeschooled by their mother, who worked to instill the family's deep religious beliefs along the way. In 1996, legislation was passed in Florida allowing homeschooled students to compete in local high school sporting events. The law specifies that homeschool students may participate on the team of the local school in the county and school district in which they live.[8] The Tebows lived in Duval County and Tim played linebacker and tight end for Trinity Christian in Jacksonville for one season, but his dream was to play quarterback. Trinity did not pass the ball much and Tim didn't want to hand it off every play, so he began to explore his options. Nease liked to throw the ball, and Coach Craig Howard was known for his passing offense, so Tim and his mother moved in to an apartment down the street from the Nease High School in St. Johns County so he would be eligible to play there. With the rest of his family living on a farm in Jacksonville, Tim began playing quarterback for Nease High School in Ponte Vedra Beach. His performance soon began to turn some heads which even led to a minor controversy over him being a homeschooled student.[9]

As a junior, Tebow's stock rose as he became a high profile, highly recruited major college quarterback prospect. The 6'3", 225 lb (1.91 m, 102 kg) quarterback continued to impress during his senior season, leading the Nease Panthers to a state title, earning All-State honors, was named Florida's Mr. Football and a Parade All-American. Tebow finished his high school career with 9,810 passing yards, 3,186 rushing yards, 95 passing touchdowns and 62 rushing touchdowns. He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Game in San Antonio, Texas which features the top 78 senior high school football players in the nation and is shown nationally on NBC television.

Despite having parental and sibling ties to the University of Florida, he remained open-minded during the recruiting process and became very close to Alabama coach Mike Shula.[10] However, after careful consideration he decided to play for the team he felt best suited his skills and style of play.[11] Tebow chose to play for Urban Meyer's Florida Gators, who employ a similar "spread option" offense that he excelled in at Nease High School.

Tebow was considered one of the nation's top recruits and was the subject of an ESPN "Faces in Sports" documentary. The segment was titled "Tim Tebow: The Chosen One", and focused on Tim's homeschool controversy and missionary work in the Philippines, as well as his exploits on the field of play and the college recruiting process. Tim Tebow was also featured in Sports Illustrated on the "Faces in the Crowd" page.

On January 7, 2007, Tebow was featured prominently in an ESPN "Outside The Lines" feature on homeschooled athletes seeking equal access to high school athletics in other states. In fact, his popularity inspired "equal access" supporters in Alabama to name their bill in the Alabama Legislature "The Tim Tebow Bill".[12] The bill, which is pending in the Alabama Legislature, will allow Alabama home school athletes to play for their local high school teams just as Tebow did in Florida.