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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYSJuly 23, 2009Tim TebowHOOVER, ALABAMA THE MODERATOR: Finishing up day two will be Florida senior quarterback Tim Tebow. If you could give us some thoughts about your senior season and expectations. TIM TEBOW: Good evening, first of all. Glad to be here. No, I do not know who did not vote for me. Got that question a lot (laughter). It's an honor to be here. I'm just happy I get to share with y'all for a minute. I'm so excited about my senior season. It's a dream come true to me to be playing this year at the University of Florida, a school that I love and I'm so happy to be at. My teammates that I'm playing with are the best in the world. I wouldn't trade 'em for anything. I'm just so looking forward to playing with them. This season is very special for us. I think we've had the best off-season that we've had since I've been at the University of Florida. My teammates are extremely focused, ready for the season to start. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. It would have been easy for you to walk away with two national championships and a Heisman Trophy. You're in the spotlight every day. Why don't you walk away, start over, be okay with that? TIM TEBOW: I definitely didn't look at it like that. I don't look at it as madness. I look at it as I'm blessed to come back to the University of Florida for my senior year. When I was deciding to go or to stay, there are a lot of things that crossed my mind. You know, but I think the important things that I looked at were -- number one, was the opportunity that I had to have an influence in the state of Florida and around the South, for the U.S. for that matter. Something that really illustrated that for me is when we were sitting down at lunch, me, Coach Meyer, my mom and dad. We got a call, two days or something after the national championship game. That call told us that since the national championship game, the verse that was under your eyes was Googled 94 million times. That just kind of showed me, wow, the impact. I could wear something under my eyes and millions of people were going to Google it. I really had a platform. I wanted to take advantage of that for one more year, be a good role model for the kids that look up to me, set an example for them. That was kind of my number one goal as far as coming back, and also to be loyal to Coach Meyer, to my teammates who have done so much for me. I wanted to come back and finish this thing strong for them. Q. Rolando McClain was in here a little while ago. He said he was watching you during the game, the defense was huddling, you went offense and said something, they got two sacks after that. He was wondering what you said. What did you say to those guys? TIM TEBOW: I'm trying to think. What part of the game was it? Q. The end. TIM TEBOW: The end? I can't even remember. I don't know. Probably so fired up I forgot. Honestly, I can't even tell you what I said. But I'm sure it was something from my heart. That's all I can say. Q. How aware are you, if at all, about, I guess I'd call, a Tim Tebow backlash, that people have had their fill of hearing about you? I don't think it's directed at you as much as the coverage, people doing the coverage. Do you sometimes wish there was less attention on you? Does it get embarrassing at times? TIM TEBOW: I think sometimes, as far as some thing it's hard to deal with, you would like to go to a restaurant without people trying to take pictures or reporters, go to a movie or something like that, somewhat have that. And it would be easy. But also you think about it, because of that, because of the articles that y'all have written and because of the articles that people continue to write, it's not only backlash from it, but there's also a lot of positive. So I try to look at things from the positive. And there has been a lot of great things. There has been a lot of people that have been encouraged not to have an abortion because they heard the story of my mom, or they have been encouraged because they have heard me give my faith on TV or in a report or something. You know what, although there has been a backlash, oh, well. You know what, I'll deal with it if I have to. It's not a big deal to me because of the kids and people that have been encouraged by the stories we have tried to tell and by the life that I've tried to live. Hopefully that's been an encouragement more than a hinder [sic] to people. Q. With all the great things you have to come back to at Florida, what was the feedback that you got when you did your research from the NFL in terms of draft projection, positions that you might play? TIM TEBOW: Well, I really didn't talk to too many scouts or anything like that. It was more of coaches that Coach Meyer was friends with that I talked to. You know, they said very kind things. So I was really humbled by what they said. But that wasn't really even too big into my decision making factor. Uhm, you know, we definitely didn't talk about too many other positions for that matter. But, uhm, you know, that wasn't an extremely big thing for me coming back. It was something I looked at really, one, because Coach Meyer wanted me to look at it. I wanted to do the wise thing, listen to counsel and do that. I talked to some of the coaches and whatnot. But, you know, it wasn't enough to give up the University of Florida. I don't know what would have been. Q. You're a competitive guy. You used last year's Heisman voting as motivation. How does this All-SEC snub motivate you? TIM TEBOW: I didn't know I was going to get that question (laughter). I really don't think this will be something that I will think about too much. Probably get asked about it a few more times. Really won't be something that I'll focus on. I really have enough to be motivated about. Plus I'm pretty -- a pretty self-motivated person. This won't play too big into my motivation factor. I'm not going to run sprints thinking about the coach that didn't vote for me. You know, that's quite all right (laughter). Q. Your coaches have said a few times that the summer after you won the Heisman you tried to fulfill every interview request. Kind of wore on you a little bit. How has this off-season been for you? A little more low-key? TIM TEBOW: Maybe a little bit. Still been pretty busy doing things. I kind of look at it from a little bit different perspective, you know. Going and speaking, working in the hospitals or prisons or whatnot, it can get tiring physically, emotionally. But at the same time it's so worth it for me. So I'm willing to be a little tired, to get a little bit cranky after all that because it's worth it. To go in there into a hospital room and see a kid smile because of you, or to be able to comfort a parent when their infant, they don't know if they're going to make it, or to be in a hospital, sharing with inmates who no one else cares about, that's worth it for me. So I'm not going to look at it from I'm tired or I don't do other things that everybody else is doing, it's taking up all my time. No, I'm looking at it, I'm trying to make a difference. That's what is most important. That's more important than football to me. Q. I'm asking all the players here, not trying to get you to transfer, but if you weren't playing for Coach Meyer, what coach in the SEC might you see yourself playing for? TIM TEBOW: If I didn't go to the University of Florida, I would have went to the University of Alabama and played for Coach Shula, who I had a great relationship with. You know, I just thought -- just had the utmost respect for him. Thought he was a great person, a great father, and he was a great coach. That's who I would have played for, was Coach Shula. Q. Everybody knows about Coach Meyer's high-scoring offense. Does he have any old school qualities, toughness, physicality that maybe you can talk about, the old Bear Bryant school? TIM TEBOW: When you're around him, you would not think that our offense was like that. It's not. It's all about old school toughness, dedication, go hit him in the mouth, that type of mentality. I think we feed off of that. We try to play like that. Our offensive line tries to be a tough offensive line. I think they have a little bit of chip on their shoulder because we're known as a spread team who likes to do reverses and throw down the field and stuff. I think if you look at our team, you see that it's not just a dink or dunk are throw down the field, reverse team with fast players. I think we kind of take pride on being a tough team. Being a team, if we need to, we're going to try to hit you in the mouth over and over and over again. We take a lot of pride in that, being a tough team, being a team if we need to, we're going to go three yards in a cloud of dust over and over and over again. We have the toughness to do that, we have the leaders to do that. It's something that we do take pride in, that if we need to win a game by will and toughness, we want to be able to do that. All the guys, we just take pride in that. Q. Coach Meyer talked about the goal for the season being winning the SEC championship again. Winning the two national championships in the last three years, do you feel the expectations have been raised above that? After you lost to Ole Miss, you famously said you wanted to go undefeated. Is the bar raised here? Are you trying to go undefeated? TIM TEBOW: No. I mean, worth coming back for the senior has already happened. It's being around my teammates, having a relationship with them, it's knowing when we leave the University of Florida, we're going to be ready to handle life. As far as our goal, yes, our goal is to win the SEC championship. That's our ultimate goal. We feel like if we're the champions of the best conference in college football, then we should have the opportunity to play for it all. But, you know, our focus is the SEC. Our focus is every day getting better. It's about having a relationship with each other. You know, do we want to be undefeated? Absolutely. I'm not gonna say that we want to lose a game. But our focus is not -- our mindset, a better way to put it, is not to go undefeated. Every time we step on the field, we want to win that game very badly. We're not going to be disappointed or heartbroken if we have a loss and we still win the national championship. I think we'll take that. Q. The struggles to repeat have been well-documented in college football. What do you talk about during the summer, you and your teammates, about complacency, how you guard against it? TIM TEBOW: We talk about it all the time. Complacency, leadership, not resting on your laurels, not worry about what we did yesterday, but worry about how we can get better today. I think the number one way you counteract that is by every day you step in that weight room, every day you step on that practice field, you're worried about getting better and not getting by. We talk about that all the time as a football team is when we're out on that field, don't worry about when it's gonna be over; worry about how much better you can get right now. Be the best you can be as a football player, be the best you can be today as a person, a football player, don't worry about getting by. So many times in every aspect of life, people are worried about getting by. You're worried about, I can't wait to get done with this so I have my free time. I can't wait to get this interview done with Tim Tebow so I can get it over with, instead of worrying about how it can be the best it can be. In so many different ways, that's people's mindset. Our focus is to get better every day. How can we be the best team, best player, best unit we can be. Not how we can get by. I think that's our mindset. If we do that, I think we'll be successful. Q. When you made the speech after the Ole Miss game, did you think it would become what it has become now? What do you think of all the hype about it, having the plaque up on the stadium? TIM TEBOW: I didn't think it would become what it became. I wasn't even thinking about that too much after the game. I just know I was upset, heartbroken. Just felt like we let -- I let my teammates down, my coaches, the fans. Was very disappointed. I wanted to let them know ultimately that something good was going to come out of this. They were going to see a different team, a different player, there was going to be positive that coming out of something that was so negative. That was my ultimate goal with what I said. But I didn't think it would have this much hype, no. Q. The speech after the Ole Miss game has become part of college football lore. Is it at all disappointing the Rebels aren't on your schedule? Facing them in Atlanta, does that appeal to you? TIM TEBOW: That definitely appeals because we'd be playing in the SEC championship, which is our goal. That would be great. I mean, no, we're not worried about trying to face Ole Miss or get revenge or anything like that. We're just worried about trying to get to Atlanta and win that game. That's our focus. So, you know, we're not focused on revenge or anything like that. Q. The LSU game is going to be critical for Florida this year. Should we give out your phone number in advance to LSU fans before the game? TIM TEBOW: 352... (Laughter). No, I know they'll be rowdy and ready to go when we get there. That's for sure. Q. Urban talked about wide receiver being a position of concern with the losses. What has been your taking on those guys going through spring and summer drills? TIM TEBOW: I think they got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder because that has been the talk, how are they going to replace Percy, Murph, CI. I think those guys are going to come out and try to prove some people wrong and show that they're a good bunch of receivers. They got a little chip on their shoulder. When you have that, you can do some very, very big things. I think, you know, they're led by a good group of guys, in Aaron Hernandez, David Nelson, DT, Carl Moore. Those guys want to be great. They've been waiting for their opportunity, for their moment. Now it's come. I think they're ready to go step on that field and do something amazing. Q. I understand Dan Mullen offered you the invitation to follow him to Mississippi State. I'm wondering what the impact of losing him will be, the transition. TIM TEBOW: Well, I mean, as y'all know, I'll miss Coach Mullen. We had a good relationship. We were very close. He was my quarterback coach for three years. I wish him nothing but the best at Mississippi State. I know he's going to do a great job. But I'm very lucky and fortunate that I have an offensive coordinator who is good, Coach Addazio, new quarterback coach as good as Coach Loeffler. And Coach Loeffler is someone that I loved in the recruiting process, and I took an official visit to Michigan solely because he was a great coach. I thought it would be amazing to play for him. It's amazing how everything works. Now I'm getting a chance to play for him. So that's pretty cool. I'm just excited and blessed to have the opportunity to play for those two coaches. Q. Speaking of Dan Mullen, what are you going to miss most about him, and what makes you think he can be successful at MSU? TIM TEBOW: I think he'll be successful because he wants to be, and he's going to strive to be. He's going to have enthusiasm. That's going to create more enthusiasm. That's going to just breed hunger. Those people are going to want to be successful. He has a great strength coach in Matt Bayliss, who was at Florida. Those people are going to create an environment that will make people want to succeed. They'll will themselves to win some games. That will be exciting to watch him using his enthusiasm, his passion, how much he wants it, to get those players excited, the university excited, and the state excited about Mississippi State football. I think something that I'll miss a lot about Coach Mullen is our little traditions. The Friday games that we'll play before the game on Saturday, the bus ride to the games, you know, our little routines, the music we listen to, just the little things like that. Q. Have you had a chance to talk to Riley Cooper? Have you given him advice? Do you think he'll come back? TIM TEBOW: I've talked to him. He's my roommate, so obviously we're close. I don't know the situation right now. That's him and his family. That's something that I don't even want to get too much involved with. He knows that he has a place at Florida, and we love him. He's done a lot for us. Whatever his decision, I'm sure it will be the best one for him. Q. We asked Coach Saban earlier about the fourth quarter, the last two drives. He gave you a lot of credit for that, said Florida outplayed his team. Talk about those two drives, plays that got you over the hump, and also the conversation you had on the sideline with Coach Meyer before you went on the field. TIM TEBOW: That conversation was simply, It's in our hands, we go get it done. Then we talked to the offense, said we train for this, we train all year to finish strong. That's why we do everything, it's for these moments. You know what, it's in our hands right now. We're going to take advantage of it, believe in that, believe in each other, we're going to go get it done. And, I mean, you just see on every play guys giving it their all in that fourth quarter. Not always being the prettiest, not always being the fanciest, but guys cared a lot about it. They were willing it to happen. Through the runs, through the passes, just everything that happened, you know, guys were ready to step up because they wanted it so bad. I think offensively and defensively, you know, just everybody was ready to step up. When their number was called, David Nelson stepped up, when Riley Cooper's number was called, he stepped up, when Carl Moore's number was called, he stepped up, when Jeff Demps' number was called, he stepped up. Our offensive line, Alabama was big and strong, but when they needed to, they stepped up. They were able to move the line and drive 'em back. I'm just so proud of my teammates for the character they showed, the toughness that they showed. When they needed a play, someone stepped up to make it. They just did a great job. That's what I'm so proud of my teammates for, is it wasn't one person, it wasn't two people, it wasn't five people, it was everybody in a collective effort to win that game. That's the reason we won. Thank you so much. God bless y'all. End of FastScripts |
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