Urban Meyer says he got 'chills' watching 'Swamp Kings,' reflects on how quickly college football can change
Tuesday was a day college football fans have had circled for some time. It marked the premiere of “Swamp Kings” — the Netflix documentary about Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow and the 2006-09 Florida Gators.
For fans who watched those teams win two national championships, the documentary is seen as a dose of nostalgia. It also gave a look behind the scenes of some of college football’s most interesting teams, which won two titles.
Meyer watched the final product Tuesday morning and he, too, enjoyed looking back on those years.
“‘Swamp Kings’ just came out,” Meyer said on Urban’s Take with Tim May with Lettermen Row’s Tim May. “I watched that this morning, the first series and got chills just thinking about those great players.”
The game that stood out from the first episode was Florida’s thrilling, 2006 victory over Tennessee. The Gators trailed the Volunteers 17-7 at one point, but got within a field goal before Tennessee made it 20-14 with 10:49 to play.
One of the plays that stands out from that game came with 7:48 to go. Florida faced a 4th and 1 from the Tennessee 28-yard line. That’s when Tebow — a freshman at the time — ran it two yards to get the first down. That helped set up the game-winning touchdown from Chris Leak to Dallas Baker as the Gators left Rocky Top with the 21-20 victory.
The play put Tebow on the map and was part of Florida’s run to a 2006 national title. But looking back at that particular conversion, Meyer said it showed so much about what makes college football special.
“The 21-20 win against Tennessee in front of 110,000 people, it’s so funny — now that I can reflect a little bit — you’re telling me the college football world changes like that. With someone making a great play on 4th and 1,” Meyer said. “Some freshman named Tim Tebow got the first down by that far.”
The rest, as they say, is history. Tebow won a Heisman Trophy the next season and helped lead Florida to another national championship in 2008 as part of his legendary career. Now an SEC Network analyst, he’s preparing for his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in December.
The anticipation around “Swamp Kings” has been building all summer as part of Netflix’s “Untold” series. All four episodes are now available to stream, just in time for the college football season to kick off this weekend.