Tim Tebow Pro Day Begins Spring Football

The best way to describe Tim Tebow today at Gators Pro Day is "push". That is he didn't impress, but he hasn't gotten worse either. His motion is clearly different, but it is good enough for the NFL?

Michael Wright of the Florida Times-Union was there and said, "Tebow worked out one kink and developed another. There's still a small loop and now a bit of a pause in motion." Also, Tebow threw low when he scrambled, resulting in mediocre accuracy.

There were NFL teams with quarterback questions in attendance. Mike Holmgren and Eric Mangini of the Browns were in Gainesville, as was Carolina's John Fox. The Panthers' head coach told the Palm Beach Post's Kyle Maistri that to assess Tebow, "you got to look at his whole body of work." The Orlando Sentinel's Andrea Adelson said that Fox and Bucs' coach Raheem Morris were impressed by Tebow. The Panthers also showed interest in Carlos Dunlap. With his past problems, Dunlap would be a good fit with the Raiders of the NFC.

Joe Haden improved his 40 times to 4.41 and 4.39, which are not great, but not awful like at the Combine. Brandon Spikes however did himself no favors as he ran a 5.0 and 5.05. Spikes is one of my all time favorite Gators, but it is becoming apparent that his fitness level has dropped since his junior year. His injuries during this season might have slowed him down, but no linebacker should run a five flat 40. The only other excuse was wet ground in Gainesville.

With the exit of the Tebow class and elite juniors, Spring Football begins across the street from the Stadium. Urban Meyer is expected to be there, but will not address the media, which will surely cause everyone to get their panties in a bunch. But, it seems to me that Meyer doesn't want every media clutch to develop into, "What the hell is going on here?" With Steve Addazio handling those duties, Addazio can issue a few "no comments" and force the questions into football.

Since Meyer hasn't talked openly about his situation, no one has considered that practice may energize Meyer. 2010 will be a relatively stress free season. Think about it; every season Meyer has been at UF has been a killer year. First it was, "Will the spread work in the SEC?" Then the first championship and making Tebow a Heisman winner in 2007. The last two seasons have been all about winning the National Championship. With John Brantley (who does not have the Tebow following yet), Meyer can develop a quarterback and offense without the demand of winning 13 games. A division title is a definite possibility, but we can't play for the SEC title every season.

Not only is the offense a year away and under possible renovation to a run first or pro-style set, the defense is at least a year away. The Baby Gators like Hurricane Orr and Ronald Powell will not be able to dominate. With the changes on the defensive staff, it is important that a familiarity is created between coaches and players. Instead of determining who plays where and when, the players need to learn to trust their new coaches and the coaches need to learn how to push their guys for maximum results.