If Tim Tebow is Superman (a concept hilariously illustrated by the Sporting Blog's national treasure, LSU Freek), consider taking snaps under center his kryptonite.
Florida's Baby Rhino struggled in his first Senior Bowl workout with Tony Sparano's South team, and everyone -- everyone! -- noticed. From the Palm Beach Post:
Performing drills with fellow South team quarterbacks...Tebow fumbled the ball at least twice while taking snaps under center...[and] fell into his same old habits — holding onto the ball too long, locking onto receivers and throwing wobbly passes. The scouts noticed.
to NFL.com analysts:
Tebow repeatedly dropped snaps, and had a tough time hitting open receivers. While it is apparent that he has been attempting to work on his unorthodox delivery, his elongated wind up and tendency to pat the ball before releasing, clearly impact his accuracy.
He was out of rhythm, missing receivers low and high and fumbling snaps while also struggling to read defenses and use proper footwork when dropping from under center.
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...to the Miami Herald:
Tebow fumbled snaps, missed receivers and at one point even tossed one wobbling, floating incompletion that appeared to slip out of his hands. The wounded pass landed in the vicinity of Tebow's entourage.
This isn't the first time Tebow's questionable mechanics have struck NFL scouts, or the first time they've realized the spread offense hero won't have mastered some of the basic practices more NFL-ready college quarterbacks have down pat. So the question becomes: will he improve enough?
Last year, Florida hired quarterbacks coach Scott Loeffler to prepare Tebow for taking standard snaps; a handful ensued but most were designed runs and didn't reveal much in the way of measurables. Prior to Senior Bowl week, he worked with noted QB guru Marc Trestman, and observers said he spent much of yesterday with Dolphins QB coach David Lee.
If it appears his tutoring is paying off, there won't really be much concern about drafting Tebow in the first two rounds; after all, someone with a level of commitment inscribed and mounted on a stadium isn't going to fumble snaps forever.
And at least one NFL coach seemed unfazed by the horror.
"I think his fundamentals and his mechanics are really good, really solid," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "They did a great job coaching him down there at Florida. I thought he did some really good things today. I thought his delivery was fine."
Huh. That's...a different opinion. Instinctive defense of a good kid under fire, or sign Miami might need a new scouting process? You decide, but keep an eye on Tebow. That ball could end up anywhere, and no one needs a bonk on the noggin.
