20 college football moments that deserve to be made into movies
By John Buhler
12. Tebow: The Movie
It starts with a shirtless Tim Tebow running in the rain at New York Jets training camp back in 2012. That moment was the beginning of the end of Tebow’s NFL career. The Denver Broncos decided to go in a different direction at the quarterback position that fall by signing free agent Peyton Manning. This decision came after a season where Tebow completed an 80-yard touchdown pass to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Playoffs.
Whatever. Tebow: The Movie is mostly about the cult-like following he developed as the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for the Florida Gators in the late 2000s. The Jacksonville native picked playing for his home state’s team under head coach Urban Meyer. Tebow would win the 2007 Heisman Trophy and win two national titles while at Florida.
His dual-threat abilities, his loopy southpaw delivery, his punishing goal-line running style, and most importantly his faith made Tebow a superstar unlike anything we’ve seen in college football before him or since. The jump pass touchdown to the crying in the SEC Championship in 2009 to that awesome post-game presser after the gut-punch loss to Mississippi State, this movie will absolutely go there.
Maybe once in a lifetime will a transcendent football talent grace his presence upon us to evoke feelings we never thought college football of all things could give us. Florida loved the guy and rivals like Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee couldn’t stand him. Meyer may win more at Ohio State, but Tebow is the player he’ll be best known for coaching down in Gainesville.
Add in the complexities of his NFL career fading before his mid-20s to him deciding to play minor league baseball in his early 30s, Tebow is a media spectacle unlike anything college spots has given us, possibly ever. Love him or hate him, you know Tebow is and people will definitely watch Tebow: The Movie. That’s for sure.