Imagine for a moment that there were a team in the NFL that was 3-10 entering week 14 of the season.  Now imagine that they had recently fired their head coach, and the QB play out of their starter in the last two weeks looked like this:

Now, continuing with this completely hypothetical situation, let's pretend that an unnamed rookie QB drafted within the first 2 rounds were asked to step into this situation for the next three games.  Rookie QBs already almost universally struggle in their first season, and this is far from an ideal situation to be walking into.  Now, let's pretend that the numbers he put up in these three games looked as follows:

Given this scenario, there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that the rookie should be starting the next game, and the media would be jumping all over him as if he's a lock to be the next big thing in the NFL.

Unless his name was Tim Tebow...

As I'm sure most people reading this site already know, that is in fact the exact situation that Tim Tebow walked into last year, and those are in fact the exact numbers he put up in his first 3 starts as a pro.  Sure, they're not world beating, set the league on fire stats, but for a rookie making his first three starts as a pro they are quite good.  Yet, while any other quarterback would be the unquestioned starter going forward and have an aura of support in the media (imagine the hubbub there would have been around a guy like Matt Stafford if he'd started his career that way), Tebow gets blurbs about how he is competing for the #4 job on the depth chart and gets hit with verbal lashings like "what has he done to deserve the starting spot" and "sorry, you can't live on your entitlement anymore, you have to earn it".

Some theorize that it's one giant media conspiracy to tear down Tebow.  I find that to be over the top.  It's not as if ESPN called together some giant corporate meeting where they all discussed how they can ridicule Tebow.

What we actually have here is a little effect that I like to call "media bandwagoning", which has also extended to "fan perspective bandwagoning".  Saying that Tim Tebow is not a good quarterback or that he's not ready to play in the NFL has become the "cool" thing to say.  It's almost as if, in order to prove that you're an "expert" and not just some casual fan, you have to lambast Tebow and cite all these traditional things that he doesn't do well.  It's the same reason that many media folks who were praising Tebow at the end of last season now speak as if he couldn't quarterback a PeeWee football team right now even though they've barely seen him play at all in the interim.  When they haven't really even seen him play since they were saying "wow, maybe this guy really can be a good NFL QB" a few months ago, how could their opinions have changed so much?

In this way, Tebow's own popularity has hurt him.  It has become accepted as fact that the only reason that Tebow has supporters is because of how loved he is off the field, and not because of his accomplishments on the field.  Tebow bashers look down on Tebow supporters as guppies that can't get past how good of a guy he is and see his oh so obvious flaws, when in reality it is them that can't see past their own old and irrelevant perceptions as to what a quarterback has to be.

Those people look at Tebow's draft position and say he would have been a 4th round pick were it not for one misguided coach, who is now out of a job, that took him way too early.  Their short term (or perhaps self-correcting) memory is incapable of remembering that Tebow was projected as a late 1st/early 2nd round draft pick even when no one thought he would end up in Denver.  In fact, I looked through every "expert mock" I could find from Scott Wright to Mike Mayock to Mel Kiper to a dozen others.  The latest anyone had him going was 44th overall and no one had him going to Denver, which means that even without McDaniels, they all believed he was set to be picked in that range anyhow.

Those people look at Tebow's throwing motion and see a guy that can't get the ball out quick enough to hit NFL passing windows, and are incapable of separating their purely speculative theories from actual reality.  No matter the fact that it had no effect on him hitting those windows when he actually stepped onto the field (or the fact that Brett Favre never had an issue hitting them even though he drops the ball even lower than Tebow does), it sounds logical in their head so it must be true.  Evidence be damned.

Among these folks are Tebow's own coach, John Fox, who seems so content to disregard actual on the field play in favor of how good or ugly something looks in practice that it took him three years to finally decide that DeAngelo Williams was a better running back than DeShaun Foster.

Look, Tebow has not looked good in practice.  I get that.  But it seems that Denver as well as the media seem to be operating under the very poor assumption that Tebow has to look like a perfectly oiled machine in practice to perform well in games.  That just isn't the type of quarterback that Tebow is, nor is it the type that he ever was.  He never has nor is he ever going to look like a prototype quarterback with great footwork, great mechanics, and bullet-proof accuracy in practice and if that is what Denver is waiting for then they'll be waiting forever.  He didn't have those things at Florida either, while John Brantley did, and we saw how that translated to the actual field of play.

If Denver wants to give Tebow one more year to learn, I'm ok with that, so long as they spend the year working on his true weakness (reading defenses), and not his perceived one.  I don't believe he needs another year, but it's worked well in the past for guys like Rodgers and Rivers.  What I have a problem with is this notion that it is now common knowledge that Tebow is a horrible quarterback.

In a way, you really have to feel bad for Tebow.  Sure, it's tough to feel bad for a guy who has millions of fans, millions of dollars, gets to do what he loves for a living, and could probably have any girl he wanted.  But with Tebow you have a guy who has succeeded at every level when stepping out onto the football field, time after time, and yet the universal opinion of him is still that he stinks as a quarterback.  It just has to eat the kid up inside that so many negative things are said about him and he just can't get out there to once again prove people wrong because of the stigma that polish is more important than production.

I think one of my favorite moments from this preseason was listening to the broadcast early on in Denver's week 1 game, as the broadcaster recounted just how awful Tim Tebow looked when he's seen him throwing around, and how he "couldn't even complete passes against air".  He stopped juuuuust short of saying that Dez Bryant would make a better quarterback than Tim Tebow.  As Tebow came into the game and went 6/7 throwing the ball he could do nothing but pick apart his mechanics, which just like Merril Hoge's now infamous report, was nothing more than regurgitated internet lingo that he was passing off as his own ideas.  Sure, those passes came against a second string defense, but surely Dallas' 2nd string defensive backs are better defenders than air, right?

That brings me to my final point.  Remember those stats that I showed you of Tebow earlier?  There are analysts out there that actually have the gall to claim they were indicative of a poor performance because of the 50% completion percentage, and use it as an example of Tebow's allegedly very poor accuracy.  Let's ignore that most rookie QBs have a poor completion percentage in their first few starts (Tebow's was not abnormally low) and really examine this deeper.

The number I want you to keep in mind here is 8.0.  That was Tebow's YPA in those three starts.  For the sake of reference, both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have each only eclipsed that number in one season out of their entire careers.  Mind you, I'm not using this to say that Tebow performed better than either of them, but rather to demonstrate to you the kind of passes that Tebow was throwing in those games.  Denver's defense was terrible, and as a result Denver spent much of those games throwing downfield.  As should make sense to anyone (especially a football analyst, which these guys claim to be), passes downfield are completed at a lower rate.  Tebow's yards per completion during those starts was an astounding 16.0.  For comparison, Peyton Manning's last year was 10.2.  It makes sense that Tebow's completion percentage was low (again even if we discount that he was a rookie making his first three starts), because Denver was throwing the ball deep an inordinate amount.  Tebow's completion percentage has always been high when he's played outside of "oh crap our defense sucks we'd better chuck it downfield every play" situations.

Tebow is seen as a guy with very poor accuracy because, in practice, he can't laser in 15 yard in-routes with 95% success.  Fortunately, there's a lot more to throwing accuracy than that, which is a fact that seems to be lost on many coaches, scouts, and analysts.  Many of these folks differentiate between "accuracy" and "touch", and my question is simply, "why?".  They're the same thing.  "Touch" is just another form of accuracy.  For instance, Cam Newton is seen as having adequate accuracy for the NFL, but he has poor "touch".  If he can't complete a pass over the top of the linebackers because it requires putting touch on the pass then that is poor accuracy.  They're the same thing, and "touch", or as I call it "vertical accuracy" is something that Tebow excels at, and is the reason that Urban Meyer was willing to let him throw a 30 yard go route down the sideline to Louis Murphy on a key 3rd and short late in the 2009 SEC Title game.

Tim Tebow is what he is.  He's a gamer who plays exponentially better in game situations than he does in simulated practices.  He's a guy that makes things happen on the field with a wide collection of talents rather than with precision accuracy or sound mechanics.  And last I checked, when Tebow threw that 50 yard bomb in week one of the preseason that hit his receiver in stride, they didn't take back half the yardage because his mechanics were ugly on the throw.

To be honest, Florida doesn't really lose all that much this year, and even better, shouldn't lose all that much after this year, either.

But there are a few big pieces that need to be, and I believe will be, filled adequately in 2011.

Ahmad Black, safety

What he meant to Florida:

If ever there will be a sequel to Rudy, they'll make it of Ahmad Black. Here is a perfect example of a guy who was told he wasn't good enough, he was too slow and too small, and that he couldn't play for an SEC team. Turns out that while he wasn't the fastest or biggest guy out there, he was plenty good enough to be the Gators' rock in the secondary for three straight seasons. He made his living on incredible instinct, and that was what made him Matt McGloin's leading receiver in the Outback Bowl. But he had a habit of picking off well thrown passes in key situations- like when he ended the Tennessee game in 2009 with a late pick to seal the 23-13 win, and when Juaquin Iglesias made a huge catch in the BCS Championship game and Black just took it away. The perfect ending to Black's movie was the pick 6 to end the Penn State game.

The replacement:

My guess is Matt Elam, who has never started a meaningful game, but has the great talent that makes a quick transition from bench to starter possible. He is an absolute headhunter, and will be more of a combo of Black and Major Wright, but will probably play in Black's free safety spot.

Mike Pouncey, Center

What he meant to Florida:

Aside from snapping balls all over Alachua County? Yeah, there was also the impressive fact that he played most of four years at Florida and started three of them. He earned All-American honors, and for a lineman, he was pretty quick. No, he can't beat Chris Rainey in a race, but there have been instances when he played guard where he recovered from a missed block to hold off a linebacker shooting the a-gap and pushing him more to the outside, giving Tebow more time to throw. His athleticism will surely be missed.

The replacement:

Could be anybody. Sam Robey was once upon a time a true center and he seems to be the best bet as of right now. Remember, though, this is Florida, and every single player has to be able to play multiple positions. Tim Tebow was a QB, and techinically, our short yardage running back. Percy Harvin was a running back and receiver. Brandon James was a punt returner, but saw some time as a receiver and running back. So Weis might not hesitate to play musical chairs with the offensive line, either, and convert a tackle or guard (but he'll actually make sure he knows how to snap a ball).

Again, though, we're Florida. We'll be fine with the way we recruit.

So!!!

Beautiful day in the neighborhood, huh?

Apparently, yesterday wasn't Monday like I thought it was. How silly of me. Rather, it's Gator Secondary Do Something Stupid Day.

We know about Janoris Jenkins getting caught with pot.

How about Will Hill being caught up with and asked about his profane and downright idiotic twitter posts throughout the year?

Well, he did deny it, but then he said that a blogger hacked his site and did that.

A blogger?

Really?

That's the best story you can come up with?

A blogger did that?

Right, because bloggers have free schedules 24/7 and have nothing better to do than kill dozens if not hundreds of possibly productive hours and try to figure out his password to gain access to his twitter.

A blogger.

Come on, dude.

That's probably even dumber than your decision to enter the Draft.

Warning: some of the posts (in fact, most of them) are extremely inappropriate, but if you doubt the validity of them, try typing some of them into a trusted search engine.

Anyway, here are his twitter posts copied verbatim:

"Its 636 in the morning and I hear a f*ckin knock at my door I'm like who the f*ck is this come to find out its my first f*ck of the day sour"

That's hilarious. It really is. All I can say is that if you ever, EVER dare to knock on Will Hill's door, you better have real double D's and a backup condom in your pocket and be ready for the most intense session of your life.

"Worse food give to us by the university of florida smh"

I just hope that smh doesn't stand for see my habitualwhininess. Because trust me, everybody does. But you're most certainly right, the food at UF is horrible. Nothing is too good for you. Ask Coach Muschamp to order a pizza a day for you, so you can get fat and sit on the couch all day watching cartoons. I know you'd love that lifestyle, because it's perfect for you. You're not going anywhere in the pros anyway unless you commit yourself to working as hard as you possibly can to make up for all the time you goofed off. Plus, cartoons are made from children between ages 2 and Will Hill.

"Blowin on that sour wit mommy in the passenger givin me head"

That's just wrong. Better clean that sour (some say it's a reference to marijuana) out before the Draft. More importantly, though, I really, REALLY hope that last part is not meant literally. Take that incest with you to Athens.

"My tutor definitely smokes bud keep talking about and reggae"

Your tutor? Was Steve Addazio your tutor? Because with the way he called plays last year, he was almost certainly high. Beg your pardon Gator fans, he wasn't a moron, he was a pothead.

"How the f*ck a baby fracture its arm"

Uh... maybe because that's the way you were created??? Last I checked, and correct me if I'm wrong, human beings are mortal. It's physics, pal, it's just the way things work. But again, you're not human. You're a god, and 100% immortal. Nothing hurts or kills you.

"He a nasty motherf*cker in front of everybody in cox"

This referred to a picture of a guy pulling his pants up. Great observation, Will!!!

"Getting a massage by a pr chick and a black chick same time feels amazing"

PR Chick. OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHH. That must feel gooooooooood. Especially if PR stands for Public Relations. If it stands for Peurto Ricans, however, I'm sorry Will, but... just forget it.

"Its funny as hell when a n*gga pay a prostitue for sex and she give him the money back"

You're right. It is funny. Actually, it's almost as funny as the fact that you think you're suddenly Tucker Max. Yeah, you're the ladies' man, the star of the Gators. It must be easy pickings for you in a bar. Hey, baby, I'm Will Hill. I star for Florida. What you say, baby? Who's Tim Tebow? Oh, he's just some guy who wore #15 and has his name in the Swamp for winning the Heisman. Oh, yeah, that guy. Yeah, he's alright.

"N*gga I go harder than a Russian"

That is extremely offensive to Russians. If any Russian commits suicide upon hearing this, then your name will become #1 on FBI's Most Wanted List. You put in about as much effort as a slug. If Charlie Strong and Teryl Austin had been as incompetent as Steve Addazio at developing players, the entire defense would all be just like you. I was once proud when I learned that you'd be representing my county at UF. Now, I'm disgusted to have been born in the same state as you.

"Morning america day already starting of crazy chick just offered me some *ss if I massage her left breast smh lmsgao"

Awesome. Great story. What's next, that girl just worked out for Charlie Weis and now she's in the running for starting QB? You deserve the Pulitzer Prize for that great piece of fiction. No self respecting girl will want anything to do with you, let alone allow you to feel her up. Then again, that girl was crazy, and thus not qualifying as self respecting. But knowing how much some people hate him for so underperforming, I wouldn't have been surprised if that girl's boob was fake and loaded with TNT and went off as he massaged it.

"Taking a sh*t in the airport"

Raise your hand if you don't care. Now put them down if you're at a public computer because everybody around you is wondering what's wrong with you. But the Gators really got more than they bargained for when Hill signed. They got a safety, and person who isn't afraid to use public restrooms. That's a talent that is absolutely ESSENTIAL for recruits to have. It actually raises the player's rating a full star. Urban Meyer recently slipped a note under Will Muschamp's door telling him that when he goes on recruiting trips, to ask the kid if he's willing to take #2's in airports.

"I need a b*tch wit some fire head come thru suck me off and dnt let no nut hit the bed straight swallow... Sour."

Like I've said before, you're an absolute p*ssy magnet. EVERYBODY wants you. All the girls made deals with their phone providers to send them text messages whenever you feel ready for some action. In fact, they've set it up so that you get two of them, just in case you made the fatal mistake of missing the first one. Quick, all the ladies that don't have red hair, set your hair on fire and appear at Mr. Hill's door at once!!! Oh and make sure you haven't eaten or drank anything all day.

"Chick tryin to swallow some of my kids for fathers day"

Nothing scares Will Hill. He's not afraid to slam into AJ Green helmet first, he's not afraid of posting idiotic and profane tweets like this, and he's not even afraid of those crazy chicks that eat babies!!!

I typically try to keep this section more about opinions than news, but this one was just too surprising not to put something up.  I'll throw in my two cents as well to justify it.

Less than a week ago there were several reports that Janoris Jenkins was foregoing his senior season in favor of the NFL draft.  Despite Jenkins being a huge loss for the Gators, there was barely any discussion about this because pretty much everyone knew it was coming.

Now, a few days later, the shocking announcement that Jenkins will NOT be entering the draft and will instead be returning for his senior season has come out.

My first reaction to this was that it is going to really spoil my "Biggest offseason losses" article that I've been working on, since Jenkins was near the top of that list.  At least it will make the painful decision of who to put #1 on that list between Jenkins and *spoiler alert* Ahmad Black much easier.

As a Gator fan, I'm ecstatic that Jenkins is coming back.  Jenkins was our best offense early on in 2010, as we repeatedly found ourselves in close games against weak teams that were finally broken open when our opponent made the mistake of trying to throw at Jenkins.  Beyond the countless crucial turnovers he forced this year, having Jenkins on one side of the field allows us great freedom with our defensive playcalling.  Like Austin in 2010, Muschamp/Quinn can now be much more aggressive with blitzes and also can protect the weaker DB play on the other side (though Jeremy Brown is coming along nicely) with safety help.  And let's not forget his ability to take big name receivers out of the game.  AJ Green will likely be a top 10 pick in the NFL draft this April, and Julio Jones will likely be a first rounder as well.  Jenkins shut them both down.  If the Jets had Revis island, then we have Jenkins island, and he is only going to get better as a Senior.

On the flipside, as a fan of Gator players, I can't help but think that Jenkins is making a poor decision.  If he were to leave for the NFL right now he would almost certainly be a top 15 overall pick, which is getting near the peak of where a DB can go in the draft.  He could maybe vault his stock 5-7 spots higher this offseason, but is that really worth the risk of an injury or off year?  It just seems like there is a lot more room to fall down than to rise up.  Maybe he's worried about a lockout, or maybe he was just salivating at what he could do in a Will Muschamp defense.

Either way, having Janoris Jenkins be a part of the 2011 Florida Gators is going to make this team a lot better.  People wondered about Muschamp's ability to recruit.  While the recruiting of high school players still has a month left, Muschamp may have already won the biggest recruit already in school in the SEC.

Nothing has come out yet on whether or not this will affect Will Hill's decision to go pro.  It would be ironic if Jenkins stays on for his senior year while Hill sticks to his decision to go pro.  Hill is all talent and no production, a disappointment so far.  If anyone could use a year playing in a Will Muschamp defense (and getting better as a player under him) it is a guy like Will Hill.