Posted on 12/06/2005 5:44:37 AM PST by tutstar
DAN: Before the game on Friday night a nice honor for you, you'll play in San Antonio, Texas in the US Army All-American bowl in January...
TIM TEBOW: It's very exciting, we've known for a while but they didn't want us to let anyone know..its a huge honor and I am looking forward to it...
DAN: I've heard that you may be making an announcement about your college intentions December 14th...
TIM TEBOW: Yes sir, that's when ESPN wants me to do it..and they're doing this series thing too, so we're looking at that...but it's a good possibility we'll announce on Dec. 14th...
Here's one of many articles on Tim. They say the trip to the Phillipines each summer is a family tradition. It's not just a tradition, it's their life. Tim's Dad is a missionary to the Phillipines and has served there for many many years. God has blessed their ministry and they have a staff now which allows for Dad to be here more than he used to.
Cool in the Spotlight :: Florida phenom shrugs off the hype.
http://www.sparqtraining.com/page.asp?sid=1&page=88
Your eyes keep floating back to the numbers. “Can’t be right,” you mutter to yourself. “Gotta be a typo. Seventy touchdowns in one season? As a junior?” But there they are, leaving opposing coaches to scratch their collective heads: 46 through the air, 24 on the ground, plus single-season state records for total passing yards (4,304) and total offense (5,576).
Yep, Nease QB Tim Tebow is a bona fide phenom. He’s the chiseled prize of a pitched recruiting battle, the prophet for a rising power in North Florida program, and a poster-boy for gym rats everywhere. He’s earned the privilege of Big Man On Campus, but there’s just one problem: He’s not on campus.
In fact, he couldn’t be much further from living “the life”: Right now, he’s in the Phillipines. The two-week trek is a summer-vacation tradition for the Tebows. Some families go to Disneyworld, the Tebows care for abandoned children at a third-world orphanage.
In addition to the missionary work, Tebow stays grounded because he is home-schooled. (A Florida rule allows him to play for his local school.) In their tidy Jacksonville home, his deeply religious parents have raised a young man immune from the hype, unfazed by the glare.
Still, it’s all a bit breathless as signing day approaches: Check out Tebow-mania on the recruiting websites: Will he or won’t he? Did he wear Michigan blue to the gym today, or ‘Bama crimson? Little-known fact: Tebow hasn’t even settled on a team when he plays video games; He’s scouting several. Eventually, though, “He will make one lucky school very proud," said Nease head coach Craig Howard.
Tim Tebow 02“He makes everyone around him better; he is like a coach on the football field,” Howard said. He’ll go over and encourage them or say something motivating. He befriends the underclassmen, and makes them feel welcome. He’s also the type player you have to kick out of the weight room. “He stays late after practice everyday. Week in and week out, he is the hardest worker on the football field,” said his coach. “That carries over to a lot of our younger players.”
It carries over to Tebow’s athleticism, too. At the Nike Training Camp in Tallahassee, he smoked the combine, posting the highest-ever SPARQ Rating for a QB: a 96.92. Ironically, most wags didn’t expect him to show — he was in the middle of summer workouts and didn’t try to peak for the camp. Tebow (6-3, 217) gave a typically modest assessment: "I wanted to attend the camp and see what things I might need to improve on at quarterback.”
And improve he has. Just three years ago, the Nease program was struggling to find an identity: Howard jokes that Nease used to be every team’s homecoming-game patsy. But the coach saw then-freshman linebacker Tim chucking the ball around after practice, and moved him to the other side of the ball. Since then, the Panthers have become one of the top schools in North Florida. In their leader’s senior year, the Panthers will gear up for arguably the program’s biggest opportunity: A nationally televised match-up on ESPN Aug. 27th against No. 3 on the FAB 50, Hoover, AL.
“We are so excited to have a chance to play against Hoover,” Tebow said. “We know they are one of the best teams in the nation. For me personally, I always want to go against the best. It will be a very good test for our team.”
And if they pull off the upset? “I just don’t feel you really need to change much even if you have success,” Tebow said. “You know the people that have been there all your life for you.”
When you hear him speak — quiet and humble, team and family — you start talking to yourself again. Like the eye-popping stats, you wonder “Is this for real? What 17-year-old is this grounded?”
But Tim Tebow’s not too worried about what you think — he’s too busy preparing for the football season and, seemingly, life.
This is a fine young man of impeccable character. A light in the darkness.
homeschool ping...
"Please welcome another Florida Gator"
It's great... to be... a Flooooooorrrrrida Gator!
Tebow's situation may be the most intriguing among the top prospects. He plays for Nease High School in Jacksonville, Fla., but is home-schooled.
"It's a unique thing," Nease coach Craig Howard said. "I've never had a home-schooled player. His father is a Baptist missionary and their family has five children and Timmy is the baby. All of them have gone through the home-schooling from the time they started school until they graduated. All of them have gone on to college and graduated from college with honors, so it's a system that's worked for that family."
Tebow, a 6-foot-3, 217-pounder who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.69 seconds and passed or ran for 70 touchdowns last season, started playing at Nease when he was a sophomore. Despite not attending school with his teammates, he became an integral part of the team from the beginning.
"That's part of that charisma factor that he's got," Howard said. "From day one, when he came in as a sophomore, they welcomed him with open arms and totally accepted him.
"He has all the physical tools. He's a great runner and a great passer. He has such competitive instincts. He's such a winner, such a competitor. The thing about him, and I've coached more than 30 years, I've never had a boy with such leadership.
"He's a missionary in the summertime to the Philippines with his father. He just has character above reproach. That balance in his life is so tremendous. You can look at the height and weight on a roster but you don't see the mind of this guy or the way he treats the worst, youngest kids on the team, the freshmen boys who are just struggling. He's putting an arm around those guys. He's a complete package. I've never had one like him."
Tebow lists eight schools as prospective suitors but Alabama seems to be emerging as a possible favorite. A former teammate, wide receiver Will Oakley, is a sophomore in Tuscaloosa, while current teammate Charlie Kirschman committed to the Crimson Tide last week. Kirschman, a 6-3, 225-pound linebacker, is not on the Super Southeast 120.
Alabama's interest in Tebow has had a ripple effect on Smelley, a two-sport star who has passed for more than 3,000 yards at Class 1A American Christian in Tuscaloosa.
"There's no doubt in my mind that if Tim Tebow decides he's going to go to Florida or wherever -- I really, honestly think he's going to go to Alabama -- then I think (Alabama) will offer Smelley immediately," Patterson said.
If Tebow commits to Alabama, however, Smelley is expected to go with either LSU or Ole Miss.
http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/sports/1123406116131170.xml&coll=3
Two words.....Brock Berlin.
OH I would love to see Tim play for the gators. I'm biased, what can I say?
Baptist Ping.
As Rita Cosby would say "My Sources"
tell me this young man is a fine young Southern Baptist.
I sure hope he doesn't pick Notre Dame.:>)(JK)
Are you saying he's going to pick Baylor?
I was hoping Ole Miss was on his radar screen.
We need the help.
And as a So. Baptist, Baylor!!!!
Oh my! I don't think we have to worry about that though I'm sure any school would be glad to have him.
Noooooo
Isn't OM a SB school?
SB being "Spolied Brats"
As nice as it would be to land Tebow, I would rather see UF focusing on getting in better offensive linemen. That has been our achilles heel for the last 5 years.
Steve Spurrier must be very interested in this young man. Many recruiters will be camped outside his front door.
It is good to hear about such a fine example of the youth of today.
You're right about that!
Laugh... well I don't know a lot about Notre Dame these days - but at least in years past it was a tad more conservative than other schools... I wonder how much his faith will play into his choice?
It will be interesting to see where he goes! Sounds like a fine young man!
So public schools are ok when you want something from them I guess.
I'll bet he chooses his school based on what he wants to do with his life and not necessarily on the football program.
That's what choice is all about. Furnish a wanted product and be successful!
But all the danger of contagion from the publically schooled. The immorality, the unenlightened kids the horrors, the horrors.
Google pulls up tons of recruiting info on Tim. I knew he was in demand but didn't realize how much! Where ever he decides to go, the team will get much more than just a QB!
It's refreshing and encouraging to see such character in a young person today. It used to be the norm but is now the exception. It gives us parents much hope that we can instill such conviction in our own!
another article which tells more of the Christian that Tim is....(& I really need to get away from this pc!)
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
-- Luke 12:48
First thing they notice is, Tim Tebow is white.
Ten thousand Filipinos sit in an auditorium ready to hear this young, white American with a gentle smile and kind eyes.
He says he has brought hope. Says he can tell them where to find faith. The Filipinos sit in awe because most have never seen an American, much less a white person.
Then, in a sweet, confident tone, the high school senior tells them about Jesus. Tells them they can be renewed if they believe. And they absorb every word. When the American is done, 8,000 want to know this Jesus.
The 18-year-old goes to a prison that houses the biggest drug lord in the city, to his father's orphanage in Mindanao, to scores of schools with the same message. He sometimes spreads the gospel for 16 hours a day. He rides in a rickety jeep up hills for hours to towns he can't pronounce. He lives on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chicken and rice and protein bars for 17 days.
During his trip to the Philippines this summer, Filipinos constantly asked Tim Tebow for his autograph just because he was American. They don't know they might have collected the signature of a future NFL star.
Tim preached about a Christian resurrection in the Philippines, but thousands of miles away on another continent, Tebow leads a different kind of conversion at Ponte Vedra Beach's Nease High School.
Once a dilapidated football program with a shabby weight room, no freshman program and a long history of losing, the St. Johns County school has morphed into power with Tebow, a left-handed genius who is rated as the best high school passing and running quarterback in the nation.
The plan always was to build Nease's football program, but Tim's dominance accelerated the process.
Today, Nease's football budget is $130,000, up from $40,000. Another $180,000 has been poured into upgrading the weight room. This year 167 players showed up for tryouts. They were lucky to get a quarter of that before Tim arrived.
"We were extremely weak," said Bernie Sanders, the president of the Nease Golden Panther Booster Club. "It wasn't even up to most Pop Warner teams."
Nease's profile as a football school has undergone a dramatic change. The Panthers were 2-8 and 3-7 in the seasons before Tim got there and hadn't qualified for the district playoffs since 1994.
With Tim, they are 16-7 with an appearance in the regional championship.
Expectations have soared for Nease football, which is ranked No. 6 in Class 4A. In fact, they are so high Nease the school makes its nationally televised debut in a road game at noon today against traditional power Hoover (Ala.) High on ESPN -- the first time a high school game has been televised on the network.
"We're not trying to get all the glory," Tim said. "We're just trying to win a state championship."
However, not everyone is pleased Nease's football program has arisen so quickly. Not everyone is pleased Tebow is a top-5 recruit who has fielded visits from college coaches such USC's Pete Carroll, Michigan's Lloyd Carr, Miami's Larry Coker, Florida's Urban Meyer and Ohio State's Jim Tressel.
See, the most sought-after athlete in Nease's history doesn't even go to classes there.
"The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." -- Matthew 23: 11,12
much more at this link...
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/highschool/recruiting/orl-spt-tebow082705,0,7627792.story?coll=orl-sports-headlines-recruit
That's what choice is all about. Furnish a wanted product and be successful!
ping for later
Are you saying that O;e Miss is a So. Bap. school.?????
Isn't OM a SB school?
SB being "Spolied Brats"
Read it again
I was making a little joke.
Billy Donovan's team is also off to a good start..
All may be true, but do you remember the incredible hoopla about Bruce Hardy, a HS phenom who was average at ASU, then was a journeyman in the pros? I take things like this with a grain of salt.
Gotcha, but I thought that you were an ole Miss grad????
BTW I am an OM football fan and that's about it. Not big enough fan that I can't make or take a joke about the Rebels.
I must be getting tired...where's the part about homeschooling? *Rubs eyes*
Posts 1 and 5,
He's the youngest of 5.
Nease won the state championship for their division today.
Woohoo!!!
What an awesome article. God bless him!
They pay property taxes, don't they? The football team is probably the only thing at the school that's worth a damn.
Sad.
Yes they do but this goes against the claims of righteousness.
Then STFU.
..... and he is going to BAMA, baby!!!!!!
Roll Tide. Bama is back.
According to yesterday's news report Tim's going to announce his pick today at 5:10 and not on the ESPN program.I just checked the ESPN schedule and The ESPN show is showing for tomorrow night at 10.
I am CRUSHED. Florida got a fine young man. Too bad I have to hate him now! (just kidding)
SEC football is the best and anyone who denies it has never been there.
Bama may be back, but it's going to be without Tebow. YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
We needed this after Portis left the team.
Of course I had this same reaction when Brock Berlin originally announced he was coming to Florida, and that didn't exactly work out very well. You just never know.
51 touchdowns, a NCAA record. Go Gators.
Care to take back your Brock Berlin comment now dfwgator?
I am very glad to take back that comment.
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy either!
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