Written by La Mont Chappell

With two national championships on record, Tim Tebow has the difficult decision to make about whether to do everything he can to win another national championship for the Gators or to showcase himself as a true QB who can be successful as a quarterback in the NFL.

Tebow’s main strength is running the football. His ability to run opens up his passing game. His passing game has always been secondary. As a freshman, he was used primary as a running back while Chris Leak was the primary passer for the championship offense. Once Chris Leak left, Tebow has continued to run with success while also improving as a passer. In 2007, Tebow set a college record for rushing touchdowns as a college QB.

Tebow and the Gators have a conflict because Tebow probably wants to make millions of dollars playing in the NFL. The best way for him to reach this goal is to be drafted high next year in the NFL draft.

There is a conflict between Florida winning another national championship and Tebow showcasing his quarterbacking skills. The decision is up to Urban Meyer because Meyer controls the gameplan. Meyer knows that in order to impress, Tebow needs to put up massive numbers with lots of touchdowns and passing yards with few interceptions and incomplete passes. Meyer knows this because he has put out top NFL QB prospects such as Alex Smith

Unfortunately, Florida is most successful when it’s running game is strong, which allows for the playaction pass to be successful. A strong running game will limit Tebow’s passing attempts. This was evident last season in which Tebow ran the ball extremely well and broke the most important collegiate records in regards to QB rushing, but Tebow lost the Heisman Trophy race because Tebow did not have the best passing stats. Sam Bradford of Oklahoma won the Heisman trophy because he put up more passing yards and more passing touchdowns as Tebow with fewer interceptions. Bradford passed for 50TD, 8 INT, and 4700+ yards. Tebow also finished behind Colt McCoy in the Heisman race. McCoy passed for 34 TD, 8 INT, and almost 4000yds passing. Tebow’s 30TD, 4 INT, and 2700 yds passing were not impressive enough to help Tebow repeat as the Heisman trophy winner.

Oklahoma and Florida both had great records and met in the national championship game. Florida killed the Sooners and won the national championship. Even though Tebow led his team to a national championship by defeating Sam Bradford and the Sooners, Bradford is still considered the better QB because he made a lot of big plays with his arm throughout the season. Tebow made most of his big plays with his legs because he ran the ball a lot.

For Tebow to get drafted high as a QB in the NFL, he would have to make more plays with his arm. Scouts value strong passing, and running quarterbacks like Vince Young have to show a strong ability to pass in order to be drafted high because it is much more difficult to run the ball in an NFL offense. The defenses are faster and stronger and NFL offenses call less running plays for quarterbacks than college offenses.

The Florida Gators have already found a winning strategy in running the ball effectively with Tebow and using the run to set up the pass. Should Urban Meyer call more passing plays so that he can showcase his star player or should he continue to use the winning formula, which is to have Tebow run as much as he passes?

Meyer’s main goal should be winning another national championship because that is what he was hired to do. Meyer and Tebow should do everything in their power to win another championship because Tebow can prove himself as a passer in NFL workouts and combines. Tebow has a chance to make history and become a college football legend if he can win another national championship.

Tebow should continue to run as much as possible because that will help Florida win another national title. This may hurt his NFL draft position, but if he can help Florida win another championship, Tebow will have enough star power to earn rewarding endorsements and he will still have the chance to prove himself as a quarterback at the combines, workouts, training camps, etc….