HOOVER, Ala. – The buzz surrounding Florida junior quarterback Tim Tebow’s appearance at Southeastern Conference Media Days could be felt an hour before he arrived at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Ala.
Several fans, many of them dressed in orange and blue, lined up to greet the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, along with other players and coaches, in the hotel lobby.
One fan’s sign even read, “All I want 4 my birthday is to meet Tim Tebow.”
Fan attention has swarmed Tebow ever since he arrived in Gainesville as a highly touted prospect from Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
Tebow said he has had several crazy fan encounters in Gainesville, saying some of them he “can’t really mention.”
“I don’t go to the mall or Wal-Mart too often because of that,” Tebow said jokingly. “There have been definitely a handful of them that you kind of just got to prepare yourself for and get used to.”
Tebow even caught the attention of LSU fans after making a cell phone gesture toward the LSU student section in LSU’s 28-24 win against Florida in October 2007.
The gesture was in response to LSU fans obtaining Tebow’s cell phone number and calling him repeatedly with taunts and death threats in the week leading up to the game.
Tebow said he would “absolutely” do the same thing if put in the situation again.
“I had fun with it,” Tebow said. “I enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy not being able to use my phone the whole week … it just shows you how crazy some fans can be.”
When asked about his new cell phone number, Tebow had a quick answer.
“I’ll just go text the LSU fans,” Tebow said.
RECRUITING IMPROVING FOR BULLDOGS
Mississippi State won a bowl game this past season for the first time since 2000.
Bulldogs coach Sylvester Croom said his program is already feeling the effects of its landmark season, primarily in recruiting.
“We are way ahead of where we’ve ever been in recruiting for next season,” Croom said.
Mississippi State has 14 commitments for the 2009 class, according to Rivals.com – only two fewer than LSU.
The Bulldogs’ 2007 revival was led by sophomore quarterback Wesley Carroll, a freshman All-SEC performer in 2007.
“The guy starts off as a third stringer … He ends up all of a sudden in the early part of the season starting in the Southeastern Conference as a pure freshman,” Croom said. “I expect him to be even better this year.”
Carroll said everything for him has “happen[ed] so fast” while in Starkville.
“I’d be lying if I said a year ago that I thought I’d be here,” Carroll said. “13 to 14 months ago I was in high school.”
COMMODORES TO RELY ON SECONDARY
Vanderbilt finished fourth in the SEC in total defense and fifth in scoring defense in 2007.
Commodores coach Bobby Johnson expects his defense to be just as strong in 2008.
“We were, I think, 16th in the nation in total defense,” Johnson said. “We think we can be just as good on defense this year as we were last year.”
Vanderbilt’s defensive strength is built on its secondary, which returns all four starters, including first-team preseason All-SEC cornerback D.J. Moore.
“The secondary is really extremely important to our defensive scheme because we do put a lot of pressure – try to put a lot of pressure – on the quarterback,” Johnson said. “[Moore] is one of the most natural football players I’ve ever been around. He just seems to know how to play the game at cornerback. He anticipates where the quarterback’s going to throw the ball.”
Vanderbilt lost its two star offensive players, wide receiver Earl Bennett and offensive tackle Chris Williams, to the 2008 NFL Draft.
But Johnson said he thinks his offense will be better this season, even without the two first-team All-SEC performers.
“We’re not going to have a guy probably who’s going to catch 70, 80 passes like Earl did, but we’re going to have some guys who are going to be ready to step up,” Johnson said. “The offensive line on paper looks like a huge concern because we lost five starters … we’re probably more athletic on the offensive line this year than we were last year.”
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]