Real Tim Tebow reveals what the 'Hawaiian Tebow' gave Alabama in the 2nd half
A lot of people have jumped on the narrative that Alabama’s latest championship-winning quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, is the next iteration of the immensely popular Tim Tebow.
After all, both players are left-handed, dual-threat quarterbacks who have won national championships in football playing for SEC schools.
Both quarterbacks are also very proud of their Christian faith and have no qualms espousing their beliefs on a public stage.
God, thank you. #NationalChampions #RollTide
— Tua. T 🇦🇸 (@Tua) January 9, 2018
Now, there has been some resistance to the notion that Tagovailoa and Tebow are mirror images of each other.
Tebow detractors think that Tagovailoa is a much better quarterback prospect than Tebow ever was.
Tebow supporters think that it’s way too soon to crown Tagovailoa as the heir apparent.
Lost amid the hullabaloo is what the actual Tim Tebow thought of his Hawaiian doppelganger.
Suffice to say, Tebow sounded mighty impressed with what the Alabama freshman pulled off.
Appearing on ESPN’s “First Take,” Tebow praised Tagovailoa for his poise and revealed the one key element that Tagovailoa brought to the team.
“I think last night was about hope. You go through the first half, and it’s the first time that I can remember that Alabama has been ‘out-Alabama’d’ by another team,” Tebow said.
“Alabama football,” as he described it, is a smash-mouth, physical and grinding style of football that begins in the trenches.
Tebow also described how difficult it was to “out-Alabama” the Crimson Tide football team, citing that it often takes an exceptional quarterback who can both throw and run, such as former Clemson standout Deshaun Watson, to topple a Nick Saban team.
“See, a lot of times when they lose or when they’re losing, it’s because another team has huge offensive plays, Ole Miss has a quarterback on fire, or Alabama has turnovers,” he said. “That wasn’t the case. Georgia was consistently beating them at the line of scrimmage and on third down, and therefore they’re losing 13-0 going into halftime.”
Tebow once again brought up the concept of “hope.”
“And to me it looked like they were void of hope, because the offense was stagnant,” he said. “There was nothing they could do. It wasn’t like there were open plays but they were missing them. No. They were getting shut down at the line of scrimmage with their QB running game and their zone read – and also, they had no passing game.”
“So what did Nick Saban do at halftime? He gave the team hope by putting in Tua [and] giving them a chance. I think when Tua came into the game, because of his left arm, he gave that team hope…. Probably biggest of all, [he gave] the defense hope to keep fighting because the offense could come through at the end,” Tebow said.
So yes, Tagovailoa might very well be the better NFL quarterback prospect, reminding some of the Seahawks’ Russell Wilson, but it’s probably too soon to say.
But at the end of the day, both Tebow and Tagovailoa are winners who are unafraid to be true to themselves.
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