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'Tim Tebow is going down this week. THAT'S ATTITUDE.'

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By SCOTT CARTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 20, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - In a season of highs and lows for Florida State junior linebacker Geno Hayes, at the top is wrecking Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan's Heisman Trophy hopes. Hayes' 38-yard interception return for a touchdown sealed FSU's upset of then-No.2-ranked Boston College earlier this month.

If the Seminoles back up some brash talk from Hayes on Monday, and taint Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's Heisman bid Saturday in The Swamp, then Hayes will always have something to remember about what could be his final FSU-Florida game. If not, he'll have something to forget, especially every time he encounters a Gators fan.

Hayes delivered the first big hit of FSU-Florida week with his mouth Monday, saying the Noles plan to spoil Tebow's dash to becoming the first sophomore in history to win the Heisman.

"We are going to have the attitude that Tim Tebow is going down,'' Hayes said. "That's what we're going to say, that Tim Tebow is going down. Y'all put that down. Tim Tebow is going down this week. That's attitude.''

While we won't know what impact Hayes' words will have on the field until Saturday, he has been speaking loud and clear all season for those paying attention, elevating his stock so much that NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has Hayes ranked the fourth-best junior linebacker in the nation.

"Hayes plays like the old Florida State linebackers play,'' FSU coach Bobby Bowden said.

Despite being undersized at 6-foot-2, 223 pounds, Hayes leads the Atlantic Coast Conference with 17.5 tackles for loss, including five sacks. Hayes probably won't break Broderick Bunkley's school-record 25 TFLs in 2005, but he has been FSU's most consistent defensive player for most of the season while battling various injuries and an early-season arrest.

"He's a playmaker,'' FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said. "I don't know if he's been through a tackling drill since the first of the year because of an injury. You've got to be really, really mentally tough to perform when you can't actually go through the fundamentals.''

In the week leading up to FSU's game against Alabama in September, Hayes made a mental mistake he regrets, one that included getting Tasered and that requires him to appear in court soon. With FSU off the weekend following a win at Colorado, Hayes and teammate Joe Surratt were arrested outside Potbelly's, a popular student hangout on campus.

Hayes was charged with assault on an officer, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors. He was benched for the first quarter of the Alabama game and faced other disciplinary punishment from Bowden and linebackers coach Chuck Amato, but since then, Hayes has been on a mission.

"I ended up in a different situation,'' Hayes said following Saturday's win against Maryland. "The situation I had, that gave me more motivation to go out here and make a statement that that's not really me.

"That's something I lived off of and it fueled me. I learned that you can't make those kinds of mistakes. That wasn't really me. That's not who I am. I've tried to show that in a positive way.''

Bowden is pleased with the way Hayes, who grew up in rural Madison County, has responded.

"He has had a pretty good year,'' Bowden said. "He has responded in a positive way, and you hope he has learned his lesson. Everybody goes through life and does something wrong, and you either learn from it or you don't. He's been perfect since then.''

Hayes says he will listen to what NFL draft advisers have to say when the time is right, but for now, he is focused on FSU's final two games. Oh yeah, and stopping that 235-pound touchdown machine known as Tim Tebow, Heisman favorite.

"There's an old saying, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall.' He's a great quarterback. Take nothing away from him. But it's not like we're going to go in there and give up because he is bigger and more agile for his size. It's nothing we can't handle. We're going to go in there with the attitude that if he runs the ball, he has to get taken down, no matter how hard he gets hit.

"Hopefully we can go out there and shatter his dreams. That's our plan, to go out there and shatter his dream of the Heisman.''

If the plan works, Hayes will have the last word to add to his first ones Monday.

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