After taking a look at the film of Florida's 23-13 win over Tennessee there are still plenty of concerns about whether Gators QB Tim Tebow will be able to make a quick transition to the NFL.
Volunteers defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin came up with as good a game plan as possible against Florida's multiple weapons and wide-open scheme, giving Tebow a look at the kind of mixed coverages he will see at the next level. Tennessee often dropped seven or eight men into coverage and rushed only three or four and Tebow struggled for a variety of reasons.
First, the Vols did a good job of taking away his primary reads in the intermediate and deep areas of the field. That forced him to check down a lot and in many cases the rush was able to force Tebow to break the pocket. Tebow also seemed to struggle at times to recognize exactly what kind of zone coverage he was looking at, and that split-second indecision at times caused him to miss open receivers in other areas of the field. Tebow also turned the ball over twice and the second-quarter interception he threw to Vols S Eric Berry was a flat-out bad read.
It is important to note, though, that Tebow didn't get a lot of help from his receivers. The film showed a lot of Florida receivers running their initial routes but failing to adjust and work back to the quarterback if they didn't get open when they expected to. They are used to simply spreading the field and using their speed to get open and when that didn't happen Tebow was often left hanging, which often led to him tucking the ball and running.
From a college football standpoint Tebow showed tremendous competitiveness and courage and he took the game over by using his legs to take advantage of Tennessee dropping so many into coverage and giving him room to run. From an NFL scouting standpoint, however, this game only reinforces concerns about the very steep learning curve Tebow will face in the NFL. It is a similar situation to the one former No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith faced after running coach Urban Meyer's spread scheme during their time together at Utah.
For Todd's thoughts on how Tebow might fit in the NFL next season, plus a look at other top quarterback prospects, a versatile Texas defender, Miami's defensive standouts and a young Penn State player to keep an eye on, you must be an ESPN Insider.
I just don't see any way outside of a small Wildcat-type package that Tebow will be mentally ready to play in his first season. He is certainly smart and determined enough to eventually make the transition, but the team that drafts him must have a quarterback coach who is a great teacher and also very patient, and the organization that invests what still might be a very high draft pick will have to be willing to wait for Tebow to develop into a pro-style quarterback.
That is a risky proposition given the current expectations placed on rookie quarterbacks, especially given the concerns about Tebow's footwork and slow, elongated delivery. The footwork can be fixed but the struggles of recent draft picks who were forced to alter their throwing motions are just one more reason to wonder whether Tebow can make the complete transition to the NFL.
We had hoped to see something more out of Tebow against an NFL-style defense but the same concerns remain. His struggles were not all his fault and it's hard to knock him after what he did to carry his team, but Tebow still has a lot of work to do to improve his NFL draft stock.
• Thursday night's game at South Carolina is important for Ole Miss QB Jevan Snead, who is coming off two underwhelming performances and needs to have a big game on the national stage.
The Rebels' offensive line is not great and will likely have some trouble against Gamecocks LB Eric Norwood and the rest of South Carolina's defensive front, but pocket presence and quick feet are part of Snead's appeal and we want to see him stay composed, sidestep the rush, keep his eyes downfield and exploit an overmatched secondary with his multitude of weapons.
This is an important time in the big picture for Snead. With Oklahoma's Sam Bradford injured, Texas' Colt McCoy struggling and Tebow appearing to have hit a plateau, Snead needs to start taking advantage. What was expected to be a banner year for quarterback play has so far not lived up to the hype and it's time for Snead and others to start turning things around before momentum starts building in the wrong direction.
Snead's stock has not been hurt because of the poor play of other top prospects and he remains a first-round prospect, but he hasn't done anything to take advantage of the situation, either.
• Texas DE/OLB Sergio Kindle has taken some knocks after not recording a sack in the first two games of the season, but we've been rather impressed with his play so far this season.
Kindle did not get as much attention last season with Brian Orakpo playing on the other side, but Kindle is being asked to do everything for the Longhorns this season and is showing tremendous versatility. He is rushing the passer and dropping into coverage, playing both inside and outside, and occasionally putting his hand in the dirt as a defensive end.
Kindle might not have had a sack in those first two games but he did register eight quarterback hurries, and he finally appeased the critics by nearly taking off Texas Tech QB Taylor Potts' head for his first sack of the season. We think he is still an impact player and if NFL teams are comfortable with a couple of off-field questions Kindle still projects as a top-20 overall pick.
• We continue to be impressed with the play of Cincinnati QB Tony Pike. A lot of great quarterbacks -- including 2009 No. 5 overall pick Mark Sanchez -- have struggled against Oregon State in Corvallis, but Pike and Cincinnati made the cross-country trip and played well in a 28-18 victory.
Pike is skyrocketing up the board thanks to his size (6-foot-5⅞, 209 pounds) and strong arm, and the fact that he is making quicker decisions and running coach Brian Kelly's offense at as high a level as can be expected. Pike is also benefiting from all the reps he got as the starter during spring practice and fall camp, and his game experience this season will also count for something.
As far as the senior quarterback class goes -- remember, Bradford and Snead are fourth-year juniors -- we now rank Pike second, just behind McCoy and ahead of Tebow.
• There has been a lot of talk about the Miami offense, and rightly so, but after studying the Georgia Tech film we came away impressed with a pair of defensive prospects.
Hurricanes S Randy Phillips is clearly the quarterback of the defensive backfield and appears to be fully recovered from a leg injury that cost him nearly the entire 2008 season. Phillips is a jack-of-all-trades who has good coverage skills and has also done a nice job of coming up in run support, registering 11 tackles and an interception over the first two games.
DE Eric Moncur also missed most of last season thanks to an abdominal injury and sat out the 2009 season opener with a groin strain, but in the Georgia Tech game he was an impact player along the defensive front. Moncur has an impressive blend of size (6-2, 250) and speed, and even with his nonstop motor he remains disciplined. That is not always the case with players who fly all over the field but Moncur remained disciplined against the Yellow Jackets and was a big part of Miami's ability to slow down their triple-option attack.
Neither Phillips nor Moncur will come off the board in the first two rounds, but both are making a strong case for midround consideration after bouncing back so strongly from injury.
• While studying Penn State early this week I came away impressed with sophomore DE Jack Crawford. While he is not the explosive speed rusher former Nittany Lions DE Aaron Maybin was last season, Crawford is instinctive and very physical for a young player. He is clearly still growing into his frame (6-5, 260) but is disruptive against both the run and pass when getting off blocks and into the backfield, and it won't surprise us if next year at this time Crawford is one of the fastest-rising underclassmen in the draft discussion.
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• USC S Taylor Mays (Scouts Inc.-rated No. 5) still hasn't practiced this week after suffering a knee sprain in the Trojans' win over Ohio State two weeks ago. Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times said Mays has done light running but little else.
• Texas QB Colt McCoy (No. 13) as a wide receiver? Sounds preposterous, doesn't it? Perhaps, but according to Mike Finger of the Houston Chronicle, the Longhorns have revived an offensive set where McCoy lines up as a wide receiver and WR/QB John Chiles lines up to take the snaps.
The Q Package has been reborn as the Wild Horn. Finger writes that it didn't work as the Q because in the old iteration Chiles had to replace a receiver. But, "[n]ow, though, Chiles is already on the field as a wide receiver. So when he lines up behind the center and McCoy runs out to the slot position, it comes as more of a surprise. Additionally, Chiles does not feel the pressure of having to make something happen with limited opportunities. He's already making plays at wide receiver, which means he can use a more even-keeled approach in the 'Wild Horn.'"
• TCU heads to Clemson this weekend and the Tigers are not only wary of the No. 15 Horned Frogs, but they're also keeping an eye on TCU LB Jerry Hughes (No. 25). "Hughes is the real deal," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney told The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier. "He's as good a player as you will see." Not bad for a converted high school running back.
• Is WR Mardy Gilyard (No. 20) part of one of the best teams in the country? With one writer predicting Cincinnati will meet Florida in the BCS title game, Paul Daugherty of The Cincinnati Enquirer takes a look at this possibility. "I said from day one we came here to compete for a national championship," Bearcats coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday. "You can now say that with a straight face. We can put a product together here that has national relevance." Still, Daugherty writes, getting Kelly to admit that the UC will be in the title game was tough. "We're not ready for that, we're not there yet. It's nice people would talk about it. I'm hopeful that before you retire that we get to that level," Kelly said.
• Florida State has been both brilliant and befuddling on defense. If a unit led by CB Patrick Robinson (No. 12) and LB Dekoda Watson (No. 93) wants to find consistency, it might happen against South Florida, which is without QB Matt Grothe after a season-ending knee injury.
"We really need to not try to make the play as much, kind of settle sometimes," senior safety Jamie Robinson told the Orlando Sentinel. "That's kind of hard to say, because you want to make plays. You've just got to pick and choose and be a little wiser on the field with it ... You're always going for that knockout punch. And sometimes your opponent ducks."
• Nebraska's one-point loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg was a bitter pill for the entire program to swallow. But the Huskers' best player, DT Ndamukong Suh (No. 4), can't wait to get that taste out of his mouth this weekend against Louisiana-Lafayette. "I'm definitely eager to get back on the field," Suh told The Grand Island (Neb.) Independent. "It's a tough loss to take. I think the best cure is to move on to the next game and get it under way."