Great player, great person
By Staff
Jonathan Willis
The moaning and groaning has been going on for several months now.
As soon as the mighty USC Trojans lost to the Oregon State Beavers on a Thursday night in Corvallis, Ore., people started talking about the college football format that's in place.
Immediately, national pundits started talking about the need for a playoff system because the best team in the nation would not win the national championship in 2008, they said.
Well, they were wrong.
The best team did win the national championship. Well, maybe not the best team, but the team with the best player certainly won it.
As an Alabama fan, I took little solace in the fact that Florida went on to win the national title a month after beating the Crimson Tide in the SEC championship game. Alabama was just one tackle and one penalty from probably playing for the national championship in Miami. Instead, the best college football player of my generation took over.
No matter how you feel about Tim Tebow, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, you have to respect him and what he stands for.
My wife gets aggravated at me because I don't always gush over Tebow like so many others. See, she looks at the great Christian that he is and all that he stands for off the field.
In my shortsightedness and love for everything Alabama football, I often fail to remember those things about him.
I just get so tired of hearing about him on television that I fail to notice the person, and even the great football, that he really is.
If Florida needs six yards for a first down, he lowers his shoulder and gets them seven. If they need 13 yards, he finds a way to get 15 yards.
That's just the kind of player he is. He is a Florida Gator fan's dream and everyone else's nightmare.
But, off the field he seems to be even more incredible.
I have seen videos of him sharing his testimony to prisoners and in foreign villages. Even during the championship game Thursday night, he had "John 3:16" written on the eye black under his eyes on his face.
What a statement to make when you know the world is watching.
And even though I am really Tim Tebowed out, if you will, it seems that he is all he is made out to be.
I just hope he takes his testimony to the NFL next year and shares it with those guys.
