Superman’s Not Looking So Super Anymore

The NFL has recently released the scores for the Wonderlic and Tim Tebow is not at the top of the class. Tebow scored 22 out of 50 while fellow draft QBs Sam Bradford of Oklahoma (36), Colt McCoy of Texas (25) and Jimmy Clausen of Notre Dame (23) scored higher than Tebow and are ranked higher than Tebow on almost every draft board. How much does this really matter? Probably not at all as there are plently of successful QBs that didn’t perform well on the test (Dan Marino comes to mind), but this is just another knock against one of the most successful college quarterbacks of all time. Palm Beach Post

Training Tebow

I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that we won't be seeing the Florida golden boy QB that we have grown to love, Tim Tebow, QBing ever again. Ironically, that is also the good news. It is not that Tebow is no longer going to be playing football, but rather that the Tebow style of throwing has reached the end of its rope and the new era of Tebow 2.0 is upon us.

After being highly criticized for not being an NFL style quarter back, with a throw that is to drawn out and easily read, many people put to bed the idea of Tebow being succesful after is reign in Florida. But recently Tebow has announced that he has been working on a new style that is more suited for professional football. Although, he will not be playing for scouts in the Combine he will showcase his new perfected throw on Pro Day, March 17th.

Tebow being the talk of the Combine has gotten some mixed reviews. Niners General Manager Scot McCloughan pointed out that "a good football player is a good football player" and there is no denying that Tebow was good at the college game. However some continue to believe that there is just not enough time for Tebow to fix some of his fatal flaws in his fundamentals. Is his inherent skill enough to carry him into the NFL or is it too little to late for Tebow?

All this talk about what he needs to do in order to prepare for the NFL has got me thinking about College football and whether or not it prepares athletes for the next level of the game. Shouldn't some of these things that he is trying to master and perfect been address during his time in Florida?

Generally speaking, high school prepares you for college, and college prepares you for your professional life thereafter, but in the current style of college football that isn’t the case. Perhaps, it is the inherent physicality of the sport that makes it different than basketball and baseball, but to any person who does not follow football it is puzzling that one of the most worshipped celebrated QBs in recent years may go from college hero to NFL zero overnight. Does this suggest an inherent flaw in college football? Should there be some type of onus on the coaches to prepare these boys to be successful on the next level and not just be the cash cow of a major university?

Tim Tebow will be a mediocre NFL player

So everyone has heard the stats for Tim Tebow's college career, and one must admit that they are more than impressive:

The 1st sophomore ever to win the Heisman Trophy

The only player in NCAA history to rush for at least 20 touchdowns and pass for at least 20 in the same season

86 touchdown passes and 57 rushing touchdowns for his career

2 time National Champion

Sounds like the prototypical guy that should be a great starting quarterback in the NFL except that every NFL scout that sees this guy constantly talks about how his skills cannot translate to the NFL level. Horrible throwing mechanics, an elongated release that allows the pass coverage to discern his intentions, sub-par accuracy, bad footwork and an inability to take snaps from under center well. All of these things were evident in the Senior Bowl and it seems as though Tebow, who was projected to be at least a late first, second round pick should probably not be taken that high by any team looking for a franchise quarterback.

But if not quarterback then where is Tebow supposed to play? Half Back? Wide Receiver? It seems to me that any team trying to take Tebow to be a QB on their team is going to be restricted to using him only in Wildcat or short yardage QB like situations. To me Tebow just looks too slow to play any other position on the field. His inability to make the defender miss when running basically limits his abilities as a running back. And while he probably has serviceable hands, I don't see him as a NFL receiver.

So in the end this all begs the question, why would any team waste a pick higher than the 5th round on somebody who is just an athletic but ambiguously suited skill player?