UF’s Trask eager for Bucs opportunity
Having lived five years in Gainesville’s 352 area code, quarterback Kyle Trask knew what it meant when “813” appeared on the screen of his iPhone on Friday night back home in southeast Texas.
The Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers were calling, using the final pick of the NFL Draft’s second round to snag the Gators’ record-setter.
“I was trying to keep a very open mind,” an elated Trask said moments afterward during a videoconference with reporters. “I was super excited when I saw that Tampa, Florida, number call me. They were one of my most favorite teams throughout this entire process.
“When I saw that Tampa Bay, Florida, man, it was unbelievable.”
Trask’s selection with the No. 64 pick continued his remarkable football odyssey — the next step is just two hours down I-75 South — and positioned him for a successful NFL career.
Trask is the first UF quarterback drafted since Tim Tebow in 2010 and eighth since 1967. The San Francisco 49ers selected Steve
”Weaver should have jumped in his car and drove the 75 miles to Gainesville so he could begin orchestrating a daringly decisive blockbuster moves that might save his sinking franchise. I’m not just talking about the drafting of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, but the hiring of UF coach Urban Meyer, too.
”Weaver should have offered Meyer a mega-contract and told him he would have every opportunity to bring Tebow and his spread offense to the NFL. … If there’s one person who might be able to lure Meyer to the NFL, it’s undoubtedly Tebow. … Meyer has often said he looks at Tebow like a son, and Tebow has often said he looks at Meyer like a father. What better place for a family reunion than Jacksonville — Tebow’s hometown and a Gators hotbed where Meyer’s arrival to coach The Chosen One would be the most highly anticipated personnel move in these parts since Lynyrd Skynyrd added a third lead guitarist.
”The draft experts claim Tebow is not an NFL
quarterback, and they’re absolutely right. He’s not a traditional NFL quarterback. So why wouldn’t a struggling, apathy-ravaged franchise like the Jaguars take a chance on running a non-traditional offense quarterbacked by a hometown hero, a national role model and one of the greatest players and personalities in college football history? What have the Jaguars got to lose? It’s not like their stadium can get any emptier than it already is. It’s not like they can have any more games blacked out than they already do. “
Sigh, if only the Jaguars had listened to me they would have saved themselves a lot of misery and made themselves a lot of money.
Here we are 10 seasons (nine of them losing), four head coaches and nine starting quarterbacks (two of them first-round busts) later, and the Jaguars have finally hired Meyer and are apparently at least considering signing Tebow.
As a tight end. Signing Tebow was a great idea a decade ago, but now it’s an absolutely terrible idea. And it hurts me deeply to say that. Anybody who has read this column for any length of time knows there is no bigger
Tebow fan than I am. He is without question my favorite athlete of all time and I truly believe — and I’ve written — that he will someday be president of the United States.
I still believe Tebow got robbed of his chance to be a starting NFL quarterback. I challenge anyone to come up with a quarterback drafted in the first round who has been given less of an opportunity to develop than Tebow. He started for one season with the Denver Broncos, compiled an 8-4 record, took his team to the playoffs and actually won a playoff game.
And that was essentially the end of Tebow’s NFL playing career. Tebow is the only quarterback in the modern history of the NFL who compiled a winning record and won a playoff game in his only year as a starter and never again started another game.
You wonder what Tebow would be like in today’s NFL, where mobile, athletic quarterbacks are all the rage. What if a young Tebow in his prime were given the same opportunity as, say, running QB extraordinaire Lamar Jackson, whom the Baltimore Ravens drafted, developed and then molded an offense around.
But, alas, Tebow’s NFL ship has sailed, and the idea of him signing with the Jaguars as a tight end is nonsensical. He’s going to be 34 years old in August, he hasn’t played football in 10 years and he’s NEVER played tight end. Besides, he’s simply not big enough or fast enough to be a modern-day NFL tight end.
A decade ago, the Jaguars were the most irrelevant, uninteresting franchise in the league and signing Tebow as the quarterback would have enlivened the fan base. But today’s Jags, after hiring one of the greatest college coaches of all time in Meyer and drafting one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time in Trevor Lawrence, are suddenly one of the most relevant, intriguing teams in the league.
A new era has begun in Jacksonville.
Time for old dreams to die.
Tim Tebow For President, 2028.