Urban Meyer and Dan Mullen have coached some elite college quarterbacks, including their trio together at Utah and Florida.
They developed Utes QB Alex Smith into the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, then won a pair of national championships at UF with Chris Leak and Tim Tebow. Mullen also produced Dak Prescott at Mississippi State, while Meyer coached Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins.
During their appearance Wednesday on CBS, Jamie Erdahl asked the ex-Florida coach and current Gators coach which one of their former quarterbacks they would start with the game on the line.
“That’s not fair to ask them,” said Tebow, who was also on the call with Erdahl. “That’s not fair to do to them. That’s so harsh. That’s terrible.”
Meyer answered first, recalling a moment on the sideline during the fourth quarter of the 2008 national championship game between Florida and Oklahoma. Tebow led the Gators to a 24-14 victory with his jump pass TD late.
“In 2008, Ahmad Black made a great interception against Oklahoma. And we’re up by three points against Sam Bradford and arguably one of the greatest offenses of all time. And I called everybody up and there was seven minutes and 40 seconds, whatever it was left on the clock. And I had them all get in real close to me.
“And I had my arm around Tim and I said, ‘Guys, turn around and look at the clock.’ And we all turned around together. And I said, ‘If we can somehow control this clock and go down and score, you’re the champions of college football.’ And at that moment, who else would you want? I’m very biased and I know he’s on the call, but he’s the best college football player of all time.”
Not the best quarterback, the game’s greatest player. ESPN ranked Tebow as the No. 1 college QB of all time last September, but had him 76th on its list of the 150 greatest CFB players.
Mullen also picked Tebow out of his former quarterbacks and called him the best player in college football history, making an argument for his four-year résumé at UF.
Tebow won two national titles and SEC championships, became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy and is one of just two three-time finalists for the award since 1980. The other is Herschel Walker, whose SEC career touchdown record was broken by Tebow.
“I think it’s hard to argue against Tim,” Mullen said. “Really if you look at what he accomplished as the best college football player in the history of the game. I don’t know if we’ll see anybody that good again, especially now with how college football’s going and guys just as fast as they can trying to get to the next level. For a guy to have a career like Tim had is going to be hard to compete with.”
