Fansided

State of Alabama passes ‘Tim Tebow’ bill

By Nathaniel Reeves

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The act would allow home-schooled students such as the former Florida Gators star quarterback to play sports at public schools.

Tim Tebow will go down as one of the greatest college football players of all time, having won a Heisman Trophy and two national championships. Had Tebow grown up in the state of Alabama, though, he may have never gotten a chance to show his abilities.

The current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was homeschooled in Florida, but played high school football at Allen D. Nease High School in Ponte Verde. Alabama is one of several states that does not allow homeschoolers to participate in sports at public schools.

That could be changing soon, thanks to a bill appropriately named the “Tim Tebow Act” that passed in the Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday. The goal of the bill, via USA Today Sports.

"“We are a group of citizens of the great state of Alabama lobbying for our state public education establishment to allow homeschooled students equal access to sports and extracurricular activities. Legislation which would provide this access has been introduced into the Alabama Legislature. This effort began in 2005. Legislation was then submitted in 2006 in the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives.”"

Given how crazy Alabama high school and college sports are, it comes as a bit of a surprise that such a bill hadn’t been passed earlier. There are bound to be some Division-I caliber athletes among the homeschooled in the talent-rich state, and allowing them to play at public schools would only give them more exposure. Playing sports at a public school isn’t the only way to get noticed by Nick Saban or Gus Malzahn, but it likely could have helped a few kids.

Of course, many in Alabama probably wish that Florida had a similar law back in 2006 in the hopes that Tebow never reached Gainesville. The Gators piled up wins with Tebow at the helm, including two SEC Championships.

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