When Tim Tebow came to the University of Florida, Gator Nation fell in love with him immediately. Maybe it was running over an LSU linebacker effortlessly. It might have been the double pump jump pass, or the way he’d pump up everyone in the Swamp after making a big play. Tebow showed us that he would do whatever he could for the team by dropping his shoulder for the few extra yards, and did enough to earn the trust of Urban Meyer. In Tennessee, trailing in the forth quarter on forth down, Urban Meyer doesn’t give the four year starter the responsibility to make one of the most crucial plays of the season, he gives it to the freshman quarterback. Tebow makes the play, Leak gets the go ahead touchdown, and the road to the
National Championship still continues. Tim Tebow’s highlight reel expanded with every snap he took, the fans couldn’t get enough of this guy. It got to the point that they booed their four year starting quarterback, because they wanted Tebow, as they would chant. They would get him, Leak was a senior, and it would be Tebow’s
turn to run the offense as a sophomore. With so much hype, it would be pretty easy to disappoint, right?

At the 2006 National Championship celebration, Tebow was asked if he planned on passing for more touchdowns or running for more touchdowns. He replied by saying he wanted to do whichever got the fans more excited. He must have thought both got the fans excited, as he had more than twenty touchdowns in both categories. With a weak defense, Tebow would have to do everything he could to make sure his team had a chance in conference games. He did just that, and when his best wasn’t good enough you’d usually see a picture of him in tears in the next day’s paper, shouldering all of the blame. Victories speak louder than stats, but by looking at Tebow’s
stats you could tell he gave it everything he had, trying to give his team a chance. With losses to Auburn, LSU, and Georgia, Florida would not get to play for the SEC Championship, which obviously meant they wouldn’t get to play for the National Championship. On December 8, 2007, Tim Tebow was recognized as the best
player in college football when he was the first sophomore awarded the most prestigious award in all of college football. A National Championship, or just an SEC championship would have been more important to Tebow, but you have to admit, Heisman trophies are pretty cool.

Coming into the 2008 season, high expectations were set for the Gators. With the defense being a year older, and even Lee Corso saying he expected the Gators to play USC for the National Championship, Tebow had a lot to live up to.  As the season went on, all looked well in Gator nation.  They crushed crushed Hawaii for
the season opener. The next week they played in-state rival Miami, and only allowed them to score 3 points. After that they went up to Tennessee and showed their first SEC opponent that they meant business. The next game, however, that took place on September 27, seemed like September 11 to a lot of Gator fans. I went to that game, and watched helplessly as Tim Tebow got stopped on forth down. As they reviewed the play, I thought “He HAD to have gotten the first down. Tebow NEVER gets stopped on forth down.” Well, he did get stopped on forth down, and as I left the stadium, I almost wanted to cry. I remember saying “Awesome, there goes our shot at the
National Championship!” (minus the vulgarity) That night I saw Tebow’s now famous speech on Sports Center. As I watched Tebow almost cry, and give his pledge that no team would work harder than Florida, I won’t lie, I was skeptical. It didn’t look like they worked harder than Ole Miss, but I kept my faith in Tebow to lead my favorite team. He did just that, won some games incredibly, remember LSU? Every week when his legend grew, he became more humble, and worked even harder. You all know the rest, he led us to the third National Championship in Gator history.

The 2008 National Championship celebration was hard for me because of how much it made me think of the one in 2006. In 2006 we had this young, excited quarterback who was eager to prove himself. At the 2008 celebration I saw the quarterback who had grown up infront of Gator Nation’s eyes, the one who had proved himself. I was on the edge of my seat for every second he was on stage, and as he left, I was able to sit down, I was finally able to accept it. Maybe Tebow was gone. The words he said made it sound like he knew he was going to disapoint, but was sorry that he had to. I couldn’t be mad at him, some guy I didn’t even know of a few years ago became a role model and a hero for me. I was really sad after he walked away after
giving no hint that he might come back. The day was so cloudy that it almost seemed appropriate for bad news. I was ready to leave, if Tim Tebow wasn’t coming back, nothing would make that okay, but as he came back on stage, I sat back down. The entire stadium is quiet, they’re listening to what he is going to say. You see a smile start to form on his face as he says “By the way, let’s do it again, I’m coming back!” Not only did I get the happiness of hearing that my favorite player was returning, I got a high five from him afterwards. It’s taken me long enough, but Gator Nation, I’ve finally realized that Tim Tebow isn’t big on disappointing us.

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