After two years of struggling to adapt his offense to Chris Leak's skills, UF coach Urban Meyer finally has his quarterback, Tim Tebow - the one he recruited - under center.
Now he can open up a high-octane option attack, right?
Wrong.
"Our offensive philosophy is not going to be any different," offensive coordinator Dan Mullen said. "We want to spread the field and create mismatches. The only difference may be how we do it."
The team hopes Tebow can replace Leak as an accurate passer and field general, using the weapons around him to make plays.
Tebow said the base of the offense will remain. But with a different set of hands jettisoning the ball every play, tweaks and adjustments must be made.
"I check out the Bowling Green offense through Tim Tebow, and the evolution of the offense is phenomenal," said Meyer, referring to his previous coaching stops. "You are going to see us revert back to a little bit of the Utah things."
As a freshman, Tebow led the Gators with eight rushing touchdowns and ranked second on the team with 469 rushing yards.
Even he knows the days of stiff-arming defenders and diving head first for the extra yard appear to be history.
When asked by a reporter if he would slide a la Leak before getting hit, Tebow reluctantly responded, "Yes sir, I think so."
"I think we're going to work on that a little bit - work on sliding," Tebow said. "Even in baseball, I always slid in head first."
Tebow also worked on his passing during the off-season, a subject of criticism from many who barely saw him pass as a freshman.
Tebow, stamped throughout the Florida high school passing record book, worked so hard to fix the kinks in his motion that he developed arm soreness.
"The one thing with Tim is that he wants to be a great quarterback," Mullen said. "He doesn't want to just be a guy who can run a linebacker over. All of his focus is on being a great quarterback with great fundamentals and a great passer."
Meyer hopes for the second straight year to find another battering ram, change-of-pace quarterback to take a few snaps away from Tebow each game.
"We've got to put pressure on Dan to make that decision, let me know," Meyer said. "Then you get that package ready, and that young person can do it. We'd like to have a little change of pace."
Three quarterbacks bunched up the depth chart early on.
Freshman Cameron Newton enrolled in January and took the early edge, while fellow freshman John Brantley entered the fray for summer workouts.
Bryan Waggener, a junior college transfer who enrolled in January but missed most of spring practice with a broken left foot, fell out of the race this week after starting preseason practice far behind.
Newton missed nearly the first week of practice with academic issues and a back injury, opening the door for Brantley to surpass him.
Brantley appeared to be heading that way, but Newton has come on strong since returning to camp and now has regained the edge in Meyer?s eyes.
"He looks really good, and then he looks really bad," Meyer said of Newton. "He's got a little bit of the upper hand. Johnny Brantley's got a future (with) no limits. It's those two battling it out."
Putting Newton, a more adept runner, at No. 2 would make sense because Brantley, a pocket passer, could then be redshirted with Waggener taking over an emergency-quarterback role.
Meyer wants to make his decision by the end of the week.
Newton, in limited availability to the media, has downplayed the possibility of redshirting, saying, "It's the coaches? decision."
Brantley, the 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year at Ocala Trinity Catholic High, expressed his intention to redshirt last year and backed that up at UF's Media Day.
"I wouldn't be disappointed if I redshirt," said Brantley after carefully thinking of the right way to choose his words. "It can only be good things that can come out of it. More time to learn the offense, more time to develop."
