Tim Tebow recalls chaotic moments before his Florida commitment

One of the biggest turning points in the Florida Gators’ program history was UF landing quarterback Tim Tebow. Rivals listed Tebow as a 5-star prospect in the 2006 recruiting class and the No. 1-ranked quarterback that cycle. As Tebow went through his high-profile recruitment, the process narrowed to Florida and Alabama. That was quite a climb for the orange and blue, considering that Tebow wasn’t all that interested in Florida before the arrival of Urban Meyer.

“I didn’t think that Florida at the time recruited as well,” Tim Tebow said on the FLAGRANT Podcast. “I wasn’t even interested in Florida until my senior year. They got rid of the whole coaching staff, brought in Urban, [Dan] Mullen, and all these great coaches, and it really changed. I was planning on going to Alabama the whole time.”

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The Florida Gators narrowly avoided missing out on Tim Tebow

With it being almost 20 years since Tim Tebow’s recruiting class, it’s well-documented how close the decision was. So close that Tebow admits that he was torn all the way to the final seconds before his announcement.

“I was so torn, I couldn’t make a decision until literally the last second. I’m standing outside with my dad in just the process that leads up to it, and I couldn’t make a decision. I’m just like, ‘Dad, what do I do, what do I do’? He’s like, ‘Alright, let’s go over the priorities.’ This is five minutes before I have to tell the world. He says, ‘Timmy, what are your priorities?’ I say, it’s the people, it’s always about the people. It’s most important, it’s who you’re around.

He said, ‘I agree, but let me ask you a different question. It’s not about all the people, but it’s about one person, because you can’t get coached and mentored by everyone. If you could just pick one, who would you pick?’ I said, I love Coach [Mike] Shula at Alabama, but if I could just pick one, it would probably be Coach Meyer.”

Before making his pick public, Tim Tebow wanted to call the head coaches at Alabama and Florida to let them know first. It wasn’t easy for Tebow to tell former Alabama head coach Mike Shula that he wasn’t picking them. His choice was even tougher after their brief conversation.

“I pick up the phone to call Coach Shula to tell him I’m not going to Alabama, because I think that’s the right thing to do. I picked up the phone, and I was very close with him and his family. They’re just awesome people. I was very close, so I got emotional and had some tears. I said, ‘Coach Shula, I’m so sorry, but I’m not going to Alabama’. He said, ‘Timmy, you stop right there, I love you just as much now than if you came to Alabama. You’re going to have a great career, and hopefully I get to coach you one day’. I hang up the phone, and I look at my dad, and I say, ‘Dad, that’s the coach I’m supposed to play for’. But then I’m like, no, no, I’m not going to get swayed. I was going to go to Florida.”

Tebow’s chaotic call with Urban Meyer

After giving the Crimson Tide the bad news, Tim Tebow called Urban Meyer at Florida. That call came moments before Tebow was set to announce his decision live on ESPN, and still left Meyer uncertain on what the actual pick would be.

“I pick up the phone to call Coach Meyer, and I’ve got like three minutes before I have to tell the world. Pick up, and I call Coach Meyer as I’m wiping off these tears from Coach Shula and Alabama. Coach picks up and he’s like, ‘Hey Teebs, how we doing?’ I’m wiping off tears, and he doesn’t know they’re Alabama tears, and I say, ‘Hey Coach, I’m good. I’m coming to Florida’.

Right before I say that, his phone goes dead. He’s in the car because he knows I’m about to make a decision. He’s got ADD, and he’s trying to drive to be able to relax. He stops, and he’s trying to get his Blackberry charged, and I guess that’s why they went out of business, but he’s trying to charge it to get it back on. It’s going to voicemail, and they’re like, you gotta get on stage.”

The lack of delivering his pick to Coach Meyer had Tebow even more uneasy about what he was about to do. Just before the broadcast started, Tebow questioned his pick one last time.

“I sit down on the stage with some family, some friends, and coaches, and they’ve got a countdown going. ESPN’s micing me up, and my dad’s sitting right beside me. As they’re micing me up, and they’re literally counting down, and I go, ‘Dad, Dad’. He’s kind of annoyed at me, and he’s like, ‘What Timmy?’ I say, ‘Dad, I actually didn’t tell Coach Meyer I’m going to Florida. I can still go to Alabama’. The audience can’t hear me, but I’m miced, so everyone with ESPN can hear me. You can kind of see they’re like, ‘What’s wrong with this kid?’

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What separated the Florida Gators for Tim Tebow?

With Tebow so torn with his decision, he recalled what factors led him to take his talents to The Swamp.

“Going back and forth, I really just went back to what my dad said, and why pick Coach Meyer is I really think that his vision and belief were different, unique, and contagious.”

When speaking with Coach Meyer about his plans for the program, he completely sold the former 5-star.

“Hope is a good thing, especially when we talk about it as a faith-based thing. Hope for a college football team is a sucky strategy. You don’t show up on Saturday, and hope is your strategy. There are too many where hope was their strategy. But for Coach, that wasn’t his strategy. He would pull you into his office, and he would say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing, but if we get you and we get this player and this player, this is what we’ll do and this is how we’ll attack a defense.’

What I think great leaders do is they paint a vision of where you’re at, but where you can be if you buy in and get the right pieces. That’s what he did that was so unique and special. It’s not enough to have the vision. You also have to believe in it with your whole heart. You have to believe in it. Those are two things that were so contagious and what the best leaders do. They have vision, and people can see it, you can communicate it, you can demand it, but then you believe in it wholeheartedly. That was contagious for me, so I really felt like, at the end, that was the turning point.”