Tim Tebow visits Auburn football team, pokes fun at himself for never beating the Tigers
While former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow might not know much about beating the Auburn Tigers, he does know a thing or two about winning football games.
In four seasons at Florida, Tebow helped the Gators to a pair of national championships and won himself a Heisman Trophy in the process. With such success, it isn’t a surprise first-year head coach Hugh Freeze called on Tebow to speak with the Auburn football team ahead of its season opener against UMass on Sept. 2.
Tebow’s message to the Tigers centered around one’s passion outweighing the hype of the moment.
“Will you just be when it comes to 8 o’clock for a big game? Or at 6 o’clock in the morning, will you still have the same passion?,” Tebow asks in a video posted to the Auburn football Twitter account.
“Really be willing to suffer in those moments, because those are the moments that are going to make you different than all the other teams. What are the differentiators for you? It’s that you’re always passionate, meaning that when it gets hard, this is when I’m going to be different. I want to suffer so I can be the best, so we can be the best — Meaning you care so much for something, you’re willing to suffer for it. That’s different than being excited, man. That’s different than being hyped.”
Tebow’s visit to The Plains comes on the heels of Netflix releasing its “Untold: Swamp Kings” docuseries, which showcased the Florida Gators football program from the years of 2006-09 during the Urban Meyer era.
Alongside the grueling workouts, constant stream of controversies and the successes of the Gators during that time period, the docuseries also highlights the fact that the Auburn Tigers were a constant thorn in Florida’s side.
The Gators played the Tigers twice while Tebow was in Gainesville — a game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2006 and a game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 2007. Both times, the Tigers stunned the Gators.
And being a good sport, Tebow poked fun of himself Friday evening as he shared Auburn football’s tweet with a few comments of his own: