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Tebow's Speech Stuff Of Legend

Tribune photo by SCOTT ISKOWITZ

Tim Tebow #15 kneels on the sidelines after the game against Mississippi.

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By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 5, 2008

GAINESVILLE - The legend of Tim Tebow? Supersize it.

As Florida prepares for Saturday's SEC Championship Game in Atlanta's Georgia Dome against No. 1 Alabama, the story of Tebow's impassioned postgame speech following his team's upset loss to Ole Miss is growing toward Paul Bunyan proportions.

It started almost an hour after the Gators were stunned 31-30 at home by Ole Miss, and an emotional Tebow apologized to Florida fans and promised something positive would could out of the setback.

"You will never see any player in the entire country who will play harder than I will play the rest of the season," he said. "And you will not see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody for the rest of the season, and you will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season."

Since then, the Gators have rolled off eight consecutive victories - by a ridiculously lopsided 414-97 count.

Florida coach Urban Meyer acknowledges Tebow's leadership and recognizes the loss as the season's turning point. But he does temper the moment.

"Tim is a great communicator and gets a lot of attention," Meyer said. "I don't want to diminish what he said and did, but he's not the lone wolf out there. There were some other guys that showed leadership, too, just more behind the scenes."

Except they are not on tape - and as Florida's success continues, "Tebow's Promise" may soon find itself next to Babe Ruth calling his home run shot.

"I just think if Florida beats Alabama and goes on to win the BCS title game, this thing will take on a life of its own," said play-by-play voice Verne Lundquist, who will do Saturday's broadcast for CBS. "I'm thinking George Gipp and Knute Rockne. You know, win one for the Gipper."

Tebow looks back and remembers only speaking from his heart.

"I didn't try to make any statements like we're going to win the rest of our games or we're going to go undefeated or anything like that," he said. "It was just that we were going to go out there and play with intensity, play with passion, character and love for the game. And that's something that we could control and something I could control."

The results are impressive, even to Crimson Tide players, who no doubt have heard more than enough about the Gators quarterback's mystic powers.

"I mean, you probably won't find too many players to do that," Alabama defensive back Rashad Johnson said.

"You can just tell their team drives off of him and his passion for the game."

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534.

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