prior two years and were looking to make it three straight with a win against us. From the start, we played very well and jumped out to a big lead. At halftime Coach Howard congratulated us and said about our 34–15 lead, “They can’t come back from nineteen points against you guys.” He would have been right if we hadn’t eased up, I’m sure, but instead they came storming back. We finally woke back up in the fourth quarter and scored a few more points while our defense stiffened and hung on for a 44–37 win.
Our offense was solid, and as a result, I had a good game, passing for over 200 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 183 yards more and two touchdowns. With that effort on offense, those six touchdowns set a Florida championship-game record. It was a phenomenal feeling as we celebrated the achievement that our hard work had brought to us as coaches, staff, and players individually and as a team, and as an entire high school.
It was a wonderful moment.
In no small part because of Coach Howard and his staff, as well as the commitment that all of us as players made to one another and the success of our program, we won the state championship.
Along the way, I’d also managed to amass a high-school career I could be proud of. By the time I was done, I had been named to the First Team All-State team twice, was named 2005 Mr. Florida Football, and with the support of my teammates, set career marks in Florida for total offense, passing yards, touchdowns, and completed passes. I also now held the single-season records in Florida for total offense, passing yards, touchdown passes, and total touchdowns. I had worked hard, and my coaches and teammates had worked hard, but I had also been richly blessed by God and so many around me, who made me better as a person and student-athlete.
The day after we’d won it all, my mind had already moved elsewhere. It was now time for me to turn my attention to deciding what college I would attend. Earlier in the fall, I’d committed myself to making a decision by that next week, and I had no idea what I should do.
And Otis heard about it all.
Chapter Eight
Where to Go, Where to Go?
“I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
—J EREMIAH 29:11
One day during my sophomore year I came home and found two letters in our mailbox addressed to me: my first ever recruiting letters. One was from Ohio State, and the other one was from Louisville. I was so jacked, even though they were not personalized and were clearly generated by a computer. Still, they were from colleges, and they were to me .
They arrived on a Monday, and as I sat with my parents that night watching Monday Night Football , I couldn’t help myself—I was still so excited about my first ever recruiting letters. And so when the players introduced themselves at the start of the game (“LaDainian Tomlinson, Texas Christian University”), I tried it out for myself from the security of my couch.
“Tim Tebow, University of Louisville.”
“Tim Tebow, Louisville.”
“Tim Tebow, THE Ohio State University.”
It was a fantastic night, rereading those two letters, watching the game with my parents, and daydreaming about someday playing college football, and who knows what else after that. We were laughing, having fun dreaming about it throughout the game. I still think it’s pretty fun to think about introducing myself for a Monday Night Football game.
As it turns out, the letters didn’t stop with those first two.
Instead, they continued to roll in, creating quite an impressive stack of interest over time. Lots of schools, and lots of conferences. The University of Maryland, the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State, Florida State University, Miami, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, and others. By the time I had graduated, I had
Our offense was solid, and as a result, I had a good game, passing for over 200 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 183 yards more and two touchdowns. With that effort on offense, those six touchdowns set a Florida championship-game record. It was a phenomenal feeling as we celebrated the achievement that our hard work had brought to us as coaches, staff, and players individually and as a team, and as an entire high school.
It was a wonderful moment.
In no small part because of Coach Howard and his staff, as well as the commitment that all of us as players made to one another and the success of our program, we won the state championship.
Along the way, I’d also managed to amass a high-school career I could be proud of. By the time I was done, I had been named to the First Team All-State team twice, was named 2005 Mr. Florida Football, and with the support of my teammates, set career marks in Florida for total offense, passing yards, touchdowns, and completed passes. I also now held the single-season records in Florida for total offense, passing yards, touchdown passes, and total touchdowns. I had worked hard, and my coaches and teammates had worked hard, but I had also been richly blessed by God and so many around me, who made me better as a person and student-athlete.
The day after we’d won it all, my mind had already moved elsewhere. It was now time for me to turn my attention to deciding what college I would attend. Earlier in the fall, I’d committed myself to making a decision by that next week, and I had no idea what I should do.
And Otis heard about it all.
Chapter Eight
Where to Go, Where to Go?
“I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
—J EREMIAH 29:11
One day during my sophomore year I came home and found two letters in our mailbox addressed to me: my first ever recruiting letters. One was from Ohio State, and the other one was from Louisville. I was so jacked, even though they were not personalized and were clearly generated by a computer. Still, they were from colleges, and they were to me .
They arrived on a Monday, and as I sat with my parents that night watching Monday Night Football , I couldn’t help myself—I was still so excited about my first ever recruiting letters. And so when the players introduced themselves at the start of the game (“LaDainian Tomlinson, Texas Christian University”), I tried it out for myself from the security of my couch.
“Tim Tebow, University of Louisville.”
“Tim Tebow, Louisville.”
“Tim Tebow, THE Ohio State University.”
It was a fantastic night, rereading those two letters, watching the game with my parents, and daydreaming about someday playing college football, and who knows what else after that. We were laughing, having fun dreaming about it throughout the game. I still think it’s pretty fun to think about introducing myself for a Monday Night Football game.
As it turns out, the letters didn’t stop with those first two.
Instead, they continued to roll in, creating quite an impressive stack of interest over time. Lots of schools, and lots of conferences. The University of Maryland, the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State, Florida State University, Miami, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, and others. By the time I had graduated, I had
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