John Walters

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is located on the University of Florida campus. Gridiron home of the Florida Gators, it is better-known to friend and foe alike as “The Swamp.” If one wanted to extend that wetlands metaphor one step further, one might say that every time Florida quarterback Tim Tebow takes the field in Gainesville, he walks on water.

Which should surprise no one.

Tebow, a junior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., has already helped the Gators to a national championship as a freshman and won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore. Because he is the first sophomore to win the Heisman since its inception in 1935, the topic in the tropics has become whether Tebow can repeat. Whether he can become only the second player to win a second Heisman Trophy, following in the cleat-prints of Ohio State tailback Archie Griffin, who did so in 1974 and ’75.

Such a question misses the point entirely. It is the product of small minds, akin to a five year-old watching the “separated thumb” trick for the first time and begging, “Do it again! Do it again!”

A home-schooled prodigy, Tebow is both a college football aberration and an absolution. A redeemer whose extraordinary statistics only begin to tell the tale. Whereas George Gipp was a Runyonesque character, Tebow is a Bunyanesque character. A nearly mythic figure whose exploits on the field make every 10-year-old boy want his poster hanging in their bedrooms and whose exploits off it merit its belonging there. About how many athletes can you say that?

The numbers you know. Last season, Tebow became the first player in college football history to both run and pass for at least 20 touchdowns. His 23 rushing touchdowns were eight more than Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, a fellow Southeastern Conference player who was the Heisman runner-up last year (and the year before that). His 32 touchdown passes were eighth-best in the nation.

Let me put it as simply as this: Tim Tebow alone accounted for 55 touchdowns in 2007. Only 24 teams scored more.

Then there is the matter of character. In a world of Deadspin posters, Facebook stalkers (ask Jimmy Clausen) and dreaded bloggerazzi, and within a sport that is followed more rabidly than perhaps any other in the States, Tebow remains unblemished. Sacrosanct. The best (as in worst) anyone can dredge up is a photo of he and ESPN babe-de-siecle Erin Andrews sharing a studio desk at some Disney event in Orlando.

Tebow only recently turned 21, but he has spent 2008 as if he were running for office. Speaking at a men’s prison. Organizing a charity football game. Having his passport stamped in Croatia, the Phillippines and Thailand — seriously — while performing missionary work. This is one UF undergrad whom you’re more likely to find in Panama than Panama City during spring break.

Pardon my man-crush, but we have had two full seasons of Tim Tebow, and I am still waiting to find a flaw. On top of his talent and his character, there is both an artistry and a passion to his game that few possess. Last October, Tebow and the Gators visited LSU. In the first quarter, Tebow rolled out left down near the goal line. He was hoping to run it in, but the Tiger defense strung out the play effectively. At the last possible moment, Tebow improvised a side-armed three-yard shuttle pass for a touchdown. You cannot teach that.

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