Tim Tebow breaks down success of Tennessee offense

Tim Tebow knows a thing or two about playing successful offense in the ultra-competitive SEC.

Earlier this week, the former Heisman Trophy winner hopped on the Paul Finebaum show to explain the success behind Josh Heupel’s Tennessee offense.

“Everything is tied in together,” Tebow said of the Tennessee offense. “So in their formations and in their plays, it all looks the same.

The former Florida quarterback said there are so many options that build on other plays, creating constant confusion for defensive coordinators.

“So when you’re a defense and you’re evaluating it, you’re saying okay, I’m seeing a receiever screen, and then off of it is a screen and go, and then off that is a screen and pump, and off of that is everything,” Tim Tebow added. And then it’s the same fake screen, and it’s a draw. So everything plays off of one another.

Tebow has clearly studied the nuances of the Volunteers’ offensive attack, and says when the scheme forces defenses to spread so wide to avoid the big play, there are easy opportunities for success in the middle of the field.

“So if you’re a defense, what are you sitting back saying?” Tebow added.

“Usually you’re looking for a tendency, but you just can’t do that against Heupel. The few times you can, you have to spread out your defensive backs and safeties so wide, the offense is able to have huge plays up the gut. Like last week, the running game wasn’t going, and then they hit the big plays at the end of the game and all of a sudden, it was gash, gash, gash.”

Tim Tebow on how to stop the Tennessee offense

While the 2021 Tennessee offense is clearly explosive and dynamic, averaging 457.6 yards per game, the former Florida Gators‘ star believes he has identified the way to stop Heupel’s attack.

“I’ve never seen anyone use splits quite like Heupel does,” Tebow added. It’s so wide. “I’ve talked to multiple coaches about this, this year, and asked them how you can defend against it. They say if you can lock up, man to man, and have athletes that can play, you have a decent chance of stopping it, but if you can’t, you’re going to have a difficult time because there aren’t many zone coverages that work against it.”

On Saturday afternoon, Tennessee will attempt to continue the offensive momentum against one of the most dominant defenses in the history of college football. Kirby Smart’s Georgia defense certainly has the athleticism and talent to stifle the Volunteers, so it should be a classic SEC chess match between the two coaching staffs.