Tebow passing on Spurrier’s AAF invite

The Alliance of American Football got off to a solid start over the weekend, but don’t expect a case of Tebowmania to break out.

Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman Trophy and won two national championships under Urban Meyer at Florida, prefers to focus on baseball. Spurrier, who also won the Heisman at Florida and formerly coached the Gators, is now the coach of the Orlando Apollos and he reiterated that, no matter how much he might want to partner with Tebow, it most likely will not happen.

“I don’t blame Tim,” Spurrier told Pro Football Talk Live. “Tim’s got a chance to go to Major League Baseball. I think Tim’s probably headed in the baseball direction. I don’t blame him. If I were in his situation, I’d probably do the same thing.”

Spurrier’s team boasted a highoctane offence, a Philly special play and the admonition to the quarterback to tell a wide receiver “to catch it next time” in its

40-6 victory Saturday. As for Tebow, he had short-lived success in the NFL, sparking wholesome Tebowmania by kneeling in prayer and leading the Denver Broncos to a playoff victory in 2012. But he never really fit as an NFL quarterback after that and lacked the inclination and the quickness to switch to another position. Spurrier admitted last summer that he had entertained the hope that Tebow would join him when the AAF launched.

“I actually got in touch with Tim before I took the job,” Spurrier told ESPN’s Paul Finebaum last June. “I sent him a text and I said, ‘By the way, I’m going to be the coach of an Orlando team in this new Alliance of American Football.’

“He basically just said, ‘Hey coach, I’m going to keep swinging the bat and see what happens,’ ” Spurrier told Finebaum.

Tebow is entering his third season in the New York Mets’ system and was invited to join the team’s major league camp when it opens Saturday. Because he wasn’t on the 40-man roster, he needed an invitation, which was all but assured because he draws big crowds. Before his season was ended by a broken hamate bone in his right hand in July, he had a .273 / .336 / .399 batting slash line with six home runs and 36 RBI in 84 Double-A games. Now 31, he has hit .244 / .319 / .367 in 210 minor league games.

Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, Tebow’s former agent, has said Tebow was one step away from the majors.