As college football wrapped up its 150th season with LSU taking out Clemson in the National Championship Game on Monday, the sport’s top-11 players were revealed at halftime in New Orleans.
No one can claim recency bias, as none of the 11 players are from the past three decades of college football. That’s a stunning revelation in and of itself.
The list is filled with elite players from previous generations. Though, it did lead to a lot of debate about how to qualify players in the rankings.
An example here would be Jim Brown coming in at No. 1. It might have been a different era when Brown was starring for Syracuse in the mid-1950s, but the running back did not have a single 1,000-yard season in three campaigns with the Orange.
Brown might be among the greatest NFL players. That’s fine. Though, an argument exists that he belongs nowhere near the top 11 in CFB history.
This leads us to our overriding point. How in the world was former Heisman winner Tim Tebow omitted from the list? We’re talking college football players. This has absolutely no bearing on how a player performed in the NFL.
When specifically looking at amateur football, Mr. Tebow belongs in the top 11. It’s not even really debatable.
Here’s a dude that tallied 145 total touchdowns and 16 interceptions in three seasons as Florida’s starter. This included Tebow putting up north of 12,000 total yards as his Gators boasted a 35-6 record and earned a national title in those three seasons.
Prior to Joe Burrow’s record-breaking 2019 campaign with LSU, Tebow put up one of the greatest single seasons for a quarterback in college football history.
Back in 2007, Tebow tallied 4,181 total yards with 55 total touchdowns and six interceptions en route to winning the Heisman. The following season saw Tebow lead Florida to the BCS title.
Again, how is someone with this résumé left off the list of greatest college football players ever?
Through no fault of his own, Tebow quickly became a divisive figure towards the latter part of his college career and heading into the NFL. Did that play a role in him being snubbed? It sure seems like that’s the case.
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