Tim Tebow: `Florida seemed like the right thing to do'

[RamJam]

In the B'Ham sports section today is a good article that kind of puts some things in perspective pretty well about Mike, Tebow, recruiting, Smelley, the works...PLEASE try to pull it up if you don't get the B'Ham news - or if someone wants to post the link - It pretty much explains why the Smelley thing, the whole Tebow thing, the respect & image of Mike Shula & all he's done for the Alabama image - just some positives.

One thing we all need to reemember is that when a kid has a bedroom decorated in all Florida Gator things, grows up in it, is surrounded daily by it, is in a family who are staunch alums... well - it's a credit to Mike that he was even swayed to "jump the fence"...

 

[DebbieM]

Birmingham News Article

RamJam,

I believe the following link goes to the article you mentioned:

'Florida seemed like the right thing to do'

It is a good article, and it makes me proud to have someone as classy as Coach Shula leading our team.

DebbieM

 

[NYBamaFan]

One thing we all need to reemember is that when a kid has a bedroom decorated in all Florida Gator things, grows up in it, is surrounded daily by it, is in a family who are staunch alums... well - it's a credit to Mike that he was even swayed to "jump the fence"...

I am not disappointed that we lost Tebow. I never thought that we had a shot at him and saw other needs. Shula wanted him, and that was enough for me to keep my mouth shut.

However, I disagree with the above. Shula failed to land Tebow, and wasted a great deal of time and energy in so doing. To give him credit for a near win, is to praise him for losing. We have other needs. Let's just hope that we have not missed the boat somewhere else while Shula and his staff bathed Tebow in adoration...

 

[bamaslammer]

I think this all came down to the parents, He loves his mom and dad and knew they would be dissappointed if he went anywhere other than their beloved Florida. Unfortunately for Tebow he might learn the hard way as I did when I was his age that when you reach this point in your life you can't make decisions to keep your parents happy, because what makes them happy may not be whats best for you. I personally feel he will have less chance getting to the NFL running that stupid option attack down there, I also feel that next years hot snot QB Meyer will go after just as always and if Tebow makes a mistake or gets hurt they will be too quick to pull him and forget about him. Meyer has proven he will throw anybody under the bus if he thinks it will serve his needs. There is no way the backup QB quitting the team days before the Tebow announcement is a coincidence. Perhaps the Tebow's should have talked to that guy and his mom.

 

[wastedmason]

I am not disappointed that we lost Tebow. I never thought that we had a shot at him and saw other needs. Shula wanted him, and that was enough for me to keep my mouth shut.

However, I disagree with the above. Shula failed to land Tebow, and wasted a great deal of time and energy in so doing. To give him credit for a near win, is to praise him for losing. We have other needs. Let's just hope that we have not missed the boat somewhere else while Shula and his staff bathed Tebow in adoration...

My sentiments exactly! We had about as much chance at getting Tebow as a snowballs chance in hell. That's why I was fired up about us not offering Smelley in our own backyard who wanted to go to Bama. I know and agree about the baseball situation and I wonder if he had been offered a scholly with the condition of no baseball would he have accepted. If not no big deal we didn't lose a thing.

As far as Tebow goes regardless of what he says, and I'm not calling him a liar I know he liked coach Shula and it was hard to turn him down, he knew deep down a long time ago where is heart was. He flirted with us and he may have been 50-50 after the UF game when we smoked them but his ties was too strong with UF and I wish coach Shula had of recognized it and not spent so much time on a losing cause. But its over and time to move on to bigger and better things, like beating Tech and finishing out our recruiting on a high note.

A Cotton bowl win in my mind could go a long ways towards our recruiting in the Texas area.

 

[GrayTide]

I think Coach Shula did all he could do. Tebow's decision is made and I think it is time we move on to those remaining kids who have not committed and maybe sitting on the fence. As I said yesterday, Alabama Football is bigger than any player we did or did not sign.

 

[GulfCoastTider]

We had a very good shot at getting Tebow. The likelihood of his commitment was worth every penny in travel expense and every minute of the staff's time recruiting him. Alabama is well on its way to signing a Top 10, maybe even Top 5 class this year. We didn't really need a QB in the 2006 class, but Tebow was worth fighting for.

Something else to remember: Verbal commitments are not binding.

 

[Tide49]

Reading how torn he was makes me think that perhaps he really did want to play for Shula pretty badly... I mean can you imagine the grief that kid was facing if he chose Bama? For those that watched the announcement, could you have imagined the looks & stunned silence he would have faced in that auditorium? He knew he faced all that, he knew he faced moving away from his family and breaking their tradition of attending UF, and yet he still really wrestled with what should have been an easy decision up til shortly before the announcement.

Oh well, water under the bridge, but, it underscores how great of a rapport that CMS must have built with Tim.

 

[RamJam]

Well we're all entitled to our alternative thoughts, opinions, etc etc - but for SURE: this kid is NOT the ONLY kid Mike has been courting...just becasue this is the big news topic doesn't mean we're just idle & left empty handed......Maybe Mike should send some of you personal updates daily on his every move & the moves of every recruiting coach out in the field.....GOOD GRIEF.

 

[Crimson Surfer]

Tebow himself "DID NOT KNOW" until a couple of hours before he committed

The article says that Tebow only called two people with his decision right before he announced it. So for you people that say CMS wasted his time and effort, this proves you wrong. Tebow "cried" when he told CMS he was going to Florida. He really wanted to play for Coach Shula. There are even "rumors" that he told the staff he was going to commit to Bama but that he wanted to take his official visits to his other finalists before he committed. Supposedly this was right after the Tennessee game. Obvioulsy I have no idea if that is true or not. I do however think that if not for Florida pulling every trick in the book to get Tebow he would have chosen Bama. I am fairly confident of that.

Florida lead their Elite 11 top QB commitment Jevon Snead to think that Tebow was their top choice which obviously he is. Reportedly Snead felt no love at Florida, so he de-committed (was let go in my opinion) and committed to Texas. If that wasn't enough recently Florida newspaper articles started flying around that starter Chris Leak was going Pro or the strong possibility existed that he was going to tranfer. Welll neither of those things are going to happen most likely. Then the masterful orchestration of 2nd string QB Josh Portis' Mother, where she publically said at the end of the year Portis is going to transfer. This was reported about a week ago. Well with her saying that now "reportedly" (from Florida Gator sites) Meyers has dismissed Portis from the team the week of the Tebow announcement. Throw on top of that Florida's #3 and #4 QBs are "reportedly" switching positions. That is reported as a certain situation on the Gator sites. How does this all come out just weeks before Tebow's announcment. Asked yourself that. One thing I would bet on is that Tebow got a text message about each situation with a complete breakdown of each situation with probably a few quotes from the newspapers from Meyer.

On top of all that Tebow grew up a die hard Gator fan with strong family ties to UF. His childhood hero was Heisman winning UF QB Danny Weurfel and his dream was to play QB for the Gators. CMS should get the credit he deserves that he was in it until the very day of Tebow's announcement.

I posted this not to be bitter or vindictive against Florida but to help all the upset Tide Fans realize that Florida had to pull out all of the stops, and I mean all of them to get Tebow to commit to UF instead of Bama.

To me this thread is closure on the Tebow situation. I have said before and I will say it again I wish Tebow well and I will be pulling for him to do well except when he plays Bama.

Here is one last article about Tebow with direct quotes from him that should let everyone know plainly that he did not even know himself so how could anyone else know until just a couple of hours before he committed.

Snap Decision; Nation's top prep QB picks Gators over Alabama

Tim Tebow kept everyone waiting until the last possible minute.

No one -- not his fans, friends, coaches or even family members -- knew where Tebow, widely considered the top prep quarterback in the country, was headed until he announced his decision to play for the Florida Gators on national television Tuesday afternoon.

Tebow said he didn't even know until a couple hours before the highly anticipated announcement at Nease High School in front of a packed auditorium.

 

[bayoutider]

I'm going to say this one more time to everyone whether they like it or not. Saying Coach Shula or any of our coaches who are out recruiting is wasting time is wrong, even a slap in their face for their efforts. You may have opinions but it's like saying any recruit who doesn't sign with Alabama was wasted time. There have been times when some of the players we wasted time recruiting came back and gave a lot of praise and credit to the Alabama coaches for wasting time on them. Some have even pushed other recruits to take a closer look at Alabama because of it. I'm sure Tim Tebow, his family and a host of other recruits don't feel the time spent with Coach Shula is wasted time. The HS coaches appreciate all the time our coaches waste in their areas scouting and talking to their players. Not all of them will choose Alabama but if we don't invest some time in these long shots we will only need to rectuit sure things, kind of like shopping for a girlfriend in the red light district.

 

[Houndstooth]

Ya' know, some folks will never be happy with what's going on with this program. Ask yourself this question? I'm head football coach for the University of Alabama. I have three freshman quarterbacks on my football team and not really looking for QBs at this time, but Tim Tebow, the top rated dual-threat quarterback in the country is interested in what's going on in Tuscaloosa. Do I make an effort to recruit this guy or do I just write it off expecting it to be wasted time? You're damn' right, I'm going after him. Shula would have been stupid not too. The same people yapping about it being wasted time are the same ones that would have yelled about him not recruiting him if that had been the case. Think about this - When was the last time anyone went on a national cable news network to announce a recruiting decision related to the University of Alabama? You can bet that this will not be the last recruit to gain national attention as it relates to recruiting and the University of Alabama. Coach Shula and his staff are doing an excellent job and some of you need to give them a little slack. We're not yet on the same playing field as other national powers, but we're geting there with Coach Shula leading the way.

 

[bamabake]

I'm going to say this one more time to everyone whether they like it or not. Saying Coach Shula or any of our coaches who are out recruiting is wasting time is wrong, even a slap in their face for their efforts. You may have opinions but it's like saying any recruit who doesn't sign with Alabama was wasted time. There have been times when some of the players we wasted time recruiting came back and gave a lot of praise and credit to the Alabama coaches for wasting time on them. Some have even pushed other recruits to take a closer look at Alabama because of it. I'm sure Tim Tebow, his family and a host of other recruits don't feel the time spent with Coach Shula is wasted time. The HS coaches appreciate all the time our coaches waste in their areas scouting and talking to their players. Not all of them will choose Alabama but if we don't invest some time in these long shots we will only need to rectuit sure things, kind of like shopping for a girlfriend in the red light district.

I think the point you make about the relationships that are built with the highschool coachs cannot be a more important point to make. I read numerous times quotes from the Nease HC about the class act CMS was and the honest approach the coaches have made. I think he said something to the effect that we had handled the process better than any school in the country. This will pay dividends down the road not just in Fla but elsewhere in the country as we take the same approach.

 

[BamaMoon]

I agree

this WAS NOT wasted time. UA and CMS got some free advertising out of this on ESPN and the relationships that were forged with high school coaches will reap future benefits. Remember, many jobs (I work in one of these) are such that you don't see immediate results from your labor. It may take weeks, months, or even years for Tebow's recruitment to pay off, but it will in some way.

One other thing. I agree that it isn't likely for Tebow to change his mind. However, how hard would it have been to announce on national T.V. in front of the Florida nation that he chose UA over FL? If TT had doubts leading up to his decision yesterday, some of those same doubts exists today. That being said, I don't think CMS has had his last conversation with Tebow before signing day.

 

[dayhiker]

From reading the article is sounds like TT was hard against a deadline, had to make a decision, and made the easier decision. I wonder, now that the pressure is off if he might decide that the easy decision wasn't the right decision? I've read about his character and all of that, but that doesn't mean an 18 year old can't change his mind. We've all made tough decisions and afterwards either had a feeling of peace or one of apprehension. You go back and fix the ones where you had apprehension. I think it's a done deal, but I still feel like there is possibly a slight glimmer of hope.

The waste of time thing is ludicrous. This is just like in business. You go after all you can and hope that you get more than your fair share in the end.

Now we have to get AS. He's been my top hope for this class from day 1. We need lineman above all else.

 

[dvldog]

Hey, its a long time til signing day. Anything can happen. Lap dances, letting go of the rope, etc. Who knows? That said, I hope all the kids get to go where they really want to and get a chance to live their dreams. You only go around once in this world.

We will get our fair share of good ones that want be at Bama. Roll Tide!

 

[Bama323]

I am not disappointed that we lost Tebow. I never thought that we had a shot at him and saw other needs. Shula wanted him, and that was enough for me to keep my mouth shut.

However, I disagree with the above. Shula failed to land Tebow, and wasted a great deal of time and energy in so doing. To give him credit for a near win, is to praise him for losing. We have other needs. Let's just hope that we have not missed the boat somewhere else while Shula and his staff bathed Tebow in adoration...

I definitely disagree with you on the wasted time part of your comment. Nothing in recruiting is a sure thing. It is alot like sales, you're not going to make every sale you attempt, but if you don't at least try to sell your product, then nobody is going to buy it. What did you expect Shula to do, just give up? We had a legitimate shot of landing him, or Shula would not have spent the time and effort he did on Tebow. We're not going to land every recruit that we talk to, nor is any other team, but we still have to go out there and do our best to land the best prospects that are available, and until yesterday, Tebow was available. Now we must moveon to other prospects and try our hand at them. I'm sure Shula promised Tebow that he would be the only QB we offered, and Shula kept his word. Maybe it came back to bite us with Smelley, maybe it didn't, but we'll still end up with a good recruiting class and we still have some talented QB's on the roster. Just like in sales, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. In this case we spent "money" (in the form of time and effort) on Tebow and didn't make any in return, but there are plenty of other prospects that we have and will take chances on that will make us plenty of "money". Southern Cal probably spent more money on getting out here and talking to Smelley than we spent on Tebow. Did Southern Cal waste their time and effort? Did they waste their time and effort on Tebow? What about Michigan? Did they waste their time and effort also? Was Alabama suppose to just stand by and let everybody else go after him? This just goes to show that everybody has to spend time and effort on recruits they don't get, it's just the nature of recruiting.

 

[TiderinMiss]

I personally think Tebow chose Florida because it felt more comfortable, but if he really thought as highly of Mike Shula as I read, then I have to believe he'll have second thoughts later about his decision.

Oh, well... good luck, Mr. Tebow. Welcome ot the world of hard decisions. They won't get any easier, either.

 

[NYBamaFan]

I definitely disagree with you on the wasted time part of your comment.

Perhaps it was not a waste of time, but it was a lost battle that took energy away from other objectives. I support Shula, and his decisions, but not blindly...

 

[Houndstooth]

Nice Article from Cecil Hurt

Very nice article by Cecil Hurt below. He sums it up pretty well :

http://www.tidesports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051214/NEWS/512140347/1067