Ad Disclosure
When Tim Tebow won a national championship as a reserve quarterback/short-yardage weapon in 2006, he had Dan Mullen as his OC. Mullen was there when Tebow produced 55 touchdowns in 2017 and brought home a Heisman trophy. And Mullen was there in 2008 when Tebow, then the full-blown star of the show, led the Gators on another march to a national title.
Mullen’s second stint in Gainesville hasn’t led to the same kind of success. Tebow, speaking about his former coach on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday, still thinks he can right the ship.
“I think he’s doing it. I think he’s going to bring in new blood in coaches,” Tebow said. “I really want to emphasize what a big deal it is. It’s not just assistant coaches. Those are very close family friends.
“Coach (John) Hevesy was there before I was there at Florida with Coach Mullen. They’re extremely close friends. Coach (Todd) Grantham — their families are close. That’s a really big move for Coach Mullen to make. I think he’s going to bring in some really good coaches.”
Following a 40-17 loss to South Carolina last weekend, Mullen fired Grantham, his defensive coordinator, and Hevesy, his offensive line coach. The loss to the Gamecocks was Florida’s 4th straight on the season and dropped it to 2-5 in SEC play.
“They’re not that far off. It’s never as good as it seems, it’s never as bad as it seems,” Tebow said, echoing a common coaching refrain. “This is a team when they’re playing well, they can play with Alabama and Georgia. But they’ve also played down to the level of some competition, like last week against South Carolina. I think sometimes as fans you just sit back and you see the results and don’t always look at the why. It’s not that big of a margin between them and the really good teams in the SEC right now.
“They’re not as far away as their record would indicate.”
Florida hosts FCS Samford Saturday at noon ET.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
