College football’s top 25 players of the 2000s: The Athletic has Tim Tebow at No. 8

Tim Tebow arguably is the legend of all legends at the University of Florida. He arrived in Gainesville as a heralded recruit and then helped deliver UF two national championships, two SEC titles and three 13-win seasons. Along the way, Tebow became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy and had two other top-five finishes.

In college football, he reached iconic status.

But according to The Athletic, Tebow is only the eighth-best NCAA player this century. That’s right, eighth!

Per Bruce Feldman, who ranked college football’s top 25 players of the 2000s, “Over the past few weeks, I reached out to around three dozen coaches, TV analysts and NFL scouts. I had a simple question to ask that proved to be more complicated than expected: Who do you think is the best college player over the past 25 years? My experts came at it from a bunch of different perspectives. Can one amazing season overshadow an excellent body of work? How much should stats, level of competition or the players around them factor in? How do you compare offensive linemen to quarterbacks or defensive tackles to wide receivers?”

Here is what Feldman wrote about Tebow …

Career: 9,285 yards, 66.4%, 88 TDs, 16 INTs, 170.8 rating; 692 rushes, 2,947 yards, 57 TDs

Best season: 2007; 3,286 yards, 66.9%, 32 TDs, 6 INTs, 172.5 rating; 210 rushes, 895 yards, 23 TDs

The H-back-sized quarterback was a force, bulldozing his way upfield as a runner while also spreading the field to take advantage of the Gators’ speed and weapons. Tebow helped Florida win the 2006 national title as a change-up runner behind Chris Leak. The next year, it was his show. UF went 9-4, but he won the Heisman by accounting for 55 total touchdowns.

In 2008, he led Florida to another national title, throwing 16 touchdowns and no picks over the final six games. He was the face and leader of a talented but volatile locker room. It made for an interesting mix, but they won a ton of games and he put up eye-popping stats. The 6-3, 235-pound lefty had one of the most prolific careers in college football history, going to New York as a Heisman finalist three times.

So, who finished ahead of Tim Tebow: According to Feldman, the order goes like this:

1. Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
2. Reggie Bush, RB, Southern California
3. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
4. Joe Burrow, QB, LSU
5. Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville
6. Ed Reed, S, Miami
7. Vince Young, QB, Texas

As you can see, it’s a solid list and Tebow certainly is in good company whether you think he’s rated too low, too high or just right. Newton, of course, began his career as Tebow’s backup at Florida. He started only one season at Auburn, but led the Tigers to the national title and won the Heisman Troiphy.

Why did he finish at No. 1?

Wrote Feldman:

FBS career: 2,908 yards, 65.4%, 30 TDs, 7 INTs, 178.2 rating; 285 rushes, 1,586 yards, 24 TDs

Best season: 2010; 2,854 yards, 66.1%, 30 TDs, 7 INTs, 182.0 rating; 264 rushes, 1,473 yards, 20 TDs

He was college football’s Superman. He spent only one year at Auburn, transferring from Blinn College in Texas after starting his career at Florida, but it was the most remarkable single season by a major college quarterback in the history of the sport — enough to put him atop this list.

The towering 6-5, 250-pound Newton ran through the hardest conference in college football, leading the Tigers to a 14-0 record. The most remarkable detail of Newton’s dominance that year was he led Gene Chizik’s Auburn squad — ranked No. 23 in the preseason — to a perfect record and did it shouldering a load unlike any other national champion QB we’ve ever seen. He didn’t have a single skill player drafted. Only tackles Brandon Mosley (fourth round) and Lee Ziemba (seventh round) were picked on the O-line. The entire starting defense had only two players drafted.

“He played with nobody,” said NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks, a former NFL scout. “He was just a force of nature.”