Tim Tebow is Amazing

Tim Tebow just seems to have it all. Aside from being the reigning Heisman winner and perhaps the most popular player in the vaunted history of Gator football, he also just happens to be a decent guy. Scratch that...more than a decent guy.

As Pasik reports (and when he says something positive about the Gators, he's always right), Tebow is performing medical operations in Southeast Asia! Such procedures include things like circumcision. How can you not like this guy? Apparently, Mr. All-American hero is also an All-World hero, who dedicates the time he could be spending with every attractive girl within 200 miles of Gainesville at an orphanage instead.

Here's a quote from his holiness:

"The first time, it was nerve-racking," he said. "Hands were shaking a little bit. I mean, I'm cutting somebody."

Hmmm. That sounds like what the Georgia defense will be feeling next year.

Orange and Blue and Rate's Debut

Hey everyone, I'm a new contributor here at TSFF, going to be covering mostly football for the Dolphins and Gators. Shoot me an e-mail sometime if you wanna know more about me, otherwise, lets get to the important stuff.

Here's a couple of game notes I put together for the first half of the Gators Orange and Blue Debut. Just some quick observations, I might do a little better writeup/analysis later, since these notes assume that you've seen the game.

-I LOVED the TD run from Mon Williams on the opening drive where he literally carried 4 defenders into the endzone. Mon is a guy we've been looking for some production out of for awhile now, one of those "potential" guys. Hopefully we can see some more out of him this year.

-Cam Newton may have dispelled any rumors that the Gators will return to a dual-QB system. He still shows his flashes of greatness, but overall his play was very sub-par. I still have some hopes for him, but I'm willing to bet that Brantley will be our backup QB this year once he gets healthy again.

-First play of Blue's second drive. Tebow jukes the defender in the backfield, and still manages to get off the option pitch. Stuff like that shows why people talk so much about Tebow being a spread QB, Leak couldn't of done that.

-Kudos again to Tebow on the play that his first interception happened. He drops the ball and picks it up to continue the play, and made a great pass. He made the play, and that's what we want to see. Rowley just juggled the pass. The second interception wasn't his fault, either.

-Kestahn Moore is really a good kid, and a hard worker. He's improved his ball handling, but when he runs the ball, he still lacks that killer instinct that I like to see in a running back. I'd really like to see him hit the holes a little faster if he's going to be the guy.

-Carlos Dunlap is a BEAST. I was really excited to see him come in last year, and after he's had a year to improve, he really impressed in this game. Remember, Dunlap is the guy who was starting defensive end and kick returner for his high school team.

-The Gators are ridiculously deep at Wide receiver. Just look at players like Justin Williams, who's probably our 5th or 6th string receiver.

-I wonder if the Gators can make it the entire season without a single punt return yard this season? Remember, all season, we only had 5 punts returned... for 22 yards. Brandon James has 5 punt returns for MORE then 20 yards. The combination of Chas Henry's leg and Brandon James' return skills are going to help the Gators win a lot of field position battles this year.

-Chris Rainey is going to make a lot of big plays this year. They say that speed kills in football, and with the combination of Percy, Rainey, and Deonte, we have speed that will make greased lightning look slow.

-People want to talk about our troubles in the secondary, but if we can improve our pash rush, then it will help our corners tremendously. Haden and Pierre-Louis are going to be solid corners this year either way with the experience they gained last year, but with a strong enough pass rush, they could be All-SEC'ers.

-One thing that does concern me is the play of the offensive line. Now, a few factors comes into this. For one, the first and second team was split between the two teams, so the line wasn't at it's best. But it does show that we have holes in our depth. Another thing to remember is that the position that is the most effected by a lack of consistent game-time is the offensive line. Look at the bowl games, after 2-3 week layoffs, teams normally let up more sacks in their bowl games then any other time in the season. Need more proof? Look at how the Giants beat the Pats. As we get into the season, our offensive line will really solidify themselves, but, I'm still a little worried about our depth there. We have to stay healthy.

-Sturgis looks really, really impressive. He hit the 47 and 52, and only barely missed the 57, and the 62 was only BARELY short. He's got a serious leg, and we finally have a kicker.

-Poor Major Wright. Because of the red shirt rules Major couldn't really hit Tebow, but Tebow levels the poor guy anyways. And for a guy that really takes a lot of pride in being a hard hitter, that's especially gotta hurt.

-I love the play of our linebackers. There were a few busted coverages that will need to be improved, but they were hitting hard and hitting fast, with good wrap-up and tackling technique. And I don't care what anyone says about QBs, a good football team begins and ends with solid blocking and tackling.

-Another player that I'm excited to see develop is Aaron Hernandez. He's still a little raw and needs more work, but I feel like he could be an All-SEC TE by his senior season. He definitely has the size and hands.

-WOW at that jump into the endzone for Rainey. The guy is the size of Carlos Dunlap's leg, but he has no fear. I love the kid already.

-I really want to see more out of Emmanuel Moody. I've heard that he did better in the second half, but we also didn't play a lot of starters in the second half. I'll reserve judgement for now.

Overall, I gotta say that I'm really excited about this coming season. After watching "The Rain Man's" performance, if you aren't excited too, you probably don't have a pulse. I also think we have a ton of depth at linebacker now (Hey, how about a 3-4?), our secondary is improving to be at least decent now, and the defensive line looks COMPLETELY different then it did last year, which is a very, very good thing. We still have some depth issues on the offensive line, and I still don't know if we have our elusive 1,000 yard running back, but at the very least Tebow shouldn't have to run as much next season.

So then, what's the answer to the big question? Are the Gators a championship team? Maybe. I think we have some of the pieces to be national champions, but not all of them, and the pieces that we do have aren't all working together perfectly, either. Not to mention how tough the SEC is, and how good Georgia is looking as well. It's still just the spring though, and we have a long way to go.

This writer's prediction? Circle Saturday November 1st on your calender, because it could very well be a #1 vs #2 matchup.

Tim Tebow!

Just the sound of the reigning Heisman-winner, the name of that freakishly speedy behemoth brings a swell to Gator fans' hearts worldwide (yes, the Gator Nation is everywhere).

Last year may have ended in disappointment, but this should be a fantastic season. Personally, I can't wait for the Georgia rematch, where hopefully the Gators will give them a humbling payback for their shenanigans last season.

Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow. The Orange and Blue game means we can chant his eminence's name once more.

Spring Gators MIA

So another crowded Saturday gameday has passed here in sunny Gainesville, Fl and once more the Gators were victorious. It took me about 45 minutes to drive the one mile to Moe's to get a fajita and I almost died about ten times in the 3 miles per hour post game day traffic. You get used to it living in a football college town after a little while on this warm September day...Wait just a second!

That's right, its spring and football fanatics are still, well, football fanatics. 60,000 strong filled in all of the open sections of Ben Hill to see the Gators work it out in a highly competitive(although still scrimmage) game.

Its hard to really tell a lot about a team, especially when its missing so many parts. The widely publicized absence has been Percy Harvin. An early Heisman favorite after his ridiculous combined rushing and receiving statistics as a half halfback, half receiver, half any other offensive position that might be invented any time soon. (gatorback anyone?) Apparently he has an ankle discomfort that has spread all the way up his leg and to his knee. Apparently this discomfort has been with him since high school? Sorry, something isn't sitting right with this after watching him effortlessly run around defenders for the past two years. Here's to keeping fingers crossed that we'll be seeing Percy running routes this fall instead of having the long snapper out in pass patterns.

The other thing we would have liked to seen previewed for this coming year was the two quarterback system. Meyer keeps talking about trying to spell Tebow on some plays(about time) and putting in another quarterback like he used to do with Tebow and Leak. The only problem with this is that Newton doesn't look like he wants to run into the line a la Tebow. He has shown off an impressive arm and some mobility but he does not appear to be a substitute battering ram like Tebow was two years ago. The other backup QB, John Brantley, continues to have strange things happen to him. After hurting his nonthrowing shoulder wrestling a lineman in a practice drill, now his hand had a cast on it after he jammed his hand. I haven't heard of this injury but that is what he reported on the sideline. Brantley had a great local high school career, but it was disappointing to not be able to see what kind of quarterback he will be this fall for the Gators.

There was a nice bright spot to watch though and that was at the Gators biggest weakness coming in, defensive line. Coming off of a year where the four man pass rush looked like an immobile troop and losing the only real player in Harvey, the Gators showed off some new athletic talent in the form of Carlos Dunlap. Sporting the popular number 8 jersey made wearable by Rex Grossman, Dunlap looked both too fast and too strong for opposing linemen. Hopefully an upgraded secondary(which should allow the Gators to send more than four on rushes) and Dunlap's ability should let this defense play back up to the caliber of the championship team.