2010 NFL Draft Watch – Tim Tebow Fails at Senior Bowl

The NCAA’s Senior Bowl is more of a showcase than it is an actual game. Professional coaches stream in to see what players are capable of under NFL circumstances. For those of you that don’t know the difference between a good college quarterback and a promising NFL prospect, all you have to do is break down Tim Tebow’s performance. Some other quarterbacks passed the test, but the Florida Gator’s form of Jesus wasn’t one of them.

Tim Tebow (Florida) – 8-for 12 Completions, 50 Yards, 0 TD’s

Tebow is the poster boy for this kind of debate. Urban Meyer runs a highly unusual offensive system that keys around Tebow’s ungodly size at quarterback, using him primarily as – of all things – a fullback. Tebow’s career has been decorated with BCS Championships and a Heisman Trophy, but his chances of being snatched up in the first round of the draft took a massive blow over the weekend.

Primarily, Tebow assumes the shotgun position, allowing him to bide time to rush the ball or throw the ball if necessary. His drop step is clumsy. His throwing motion is harder to watch than Byron Leftwich’s. He’s got the inaccuracy of JaMarcus Russell with half the power. At the Senior Bowl, he fumbled twice.

That being said, Tebow does posses rare gifts. He’s a warrior in the gym and his massive frame is a product of a strict work ethic. As far as winning goes, it’s hard to find a quarterback that has done as much as he has in four years of college. However, his showing at the Senior Bowl was probably enough to drop him out of the second round. Nobody in their right mind is going to take a chance on a developing quarterback that has so much to learn, and Tebow is highly unlikely to play his natural position of tight-end. Even Al Davis has is probably turning the other cheek at this point.

Mardy Gilyard (Cincinnati) – 103 yards receiving, 1 TD

At 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, Gilyard doesn’t have the big body you’d like in a receiver, but a strong showing at the Senior Bowl should be enough to catch the eye of teams desperate for a pass catcher in the draft. Gilyard led the Bearcats his season with 87 receptions for 1,191 yards and 11 touchdowns.

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Dez Bryant and Golden Tate are still graded far higher than Gilyard in terms of draft stock, but a strong showing under professional circumstances should boost Gilyard’s value. Teams like Tampa Bay, St. Louis and Oakland will be desperate in the second and third rounds to draft a guy who can simply produce either in the slot or down the seams. Gilyard, too many, has suddenly become that guy.

Tony Pike (Cincinnati) – 5-for12 Completions, 45 Yards, 0 TD’s

Pike did way more at more practice to ensure he gets a solid look from scouts than he did in the actual Senior Bowl game. At 6-foot-6 he’s like a lighthouse under center. With excellent field vision and a half-decent arm, Pike adjusted to the pro-style offense very well.

The main issue for Pike is his 225-pound bodyweight and the fact he took some major injuries this season. He missed three games in the middle of the season and barely played against West Virginia. Yet now Pike is going to get more consideration as a potential Flacco-type prospect in the upcoming NFL combine. Teams may simply be more willing to take a chance on Pike in the second round then burn a first-round pick on Clausen or Bradford considering the skill position players available in the draft.

Dan LeFevour (Michigan) – 5-for-10 Completions, 97 yards, 1 TD

If anyone gave LeFevour more help in the draft, it’s actually Bill Parcells who drafted former Michigan Wolverine Chad Henne and inserted him successfully in to the starting lineup of the Miami Dolphins. Parcells looks for key resume points for quarterback draft picks including four years of schooling, big production and certain height and weight specs.

LeFevour fits the mold at 6-foot-3 and 238 pounds. He has the build to take a beating at the NFL level, which he proved by taking 85 sacks over his four year career while maintaining a quarterback rating of 143.55 as a four-year starter. Despite playing for a Michigan team caught in coaching regime overhauls and a drastic amount of injuries to their high school recruits, LeFevour was a strong mainstay of the program and was the best quarterback of the day for the North when they beat the South in the Senior Bowl.

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