Tim Tebow began the uphill climb attempting to make the Jacksonville Jaguars' roster after being out of football entirely since 2015.
Joining the Rich Eisen Show on Thursday, Urban Meyer reiterated how Tebow approached the Jags' new coach -- and Tebow's former mentor at Florida -- about getting another shot, this time at tight end.
"I'm on his foundation board," Meyer told Eisen. "I know Tim, we talk. I knew he was getting ready to go play pro baseball. He mentioned to me that, 'I'm in the best shape of my life,' and you can tell he is. And we had a chat, and he said, 'Well, could you have a couple guys look at me?' And I said, obviously, let me think this thing through...if it's confidential, yeah I'll let some guys look at you, and I showed up, and I left on purpose. Our GM was there, our tight end coach and our offensive coordinator were there, and they put him through a workout, and they came back to me and said, 'My gosh, this guy's in incredible shape. He's a big athlete. Our tight end room has been struggling.' ... they gave him some things to work on, and then they brought him back, and they came to me and said I think we should give him a shot.'"
Meyer noted that Tebow remains a longshot despite the Jags' need at the tight end position.
"What's the percentage of making the team? We don't know, this is uncharted water, this is gonna be very difficult, but he's been doing great," Meyer said. "He's been doing great in practice, he's learning the offense as you can imagine. He's working as hard as anybody. I see a good camaraderie amongst the team and Tim, and it's been good so far."
No one has ever taken issue with Tebow's work ethic. But it'll take more than sweat for a 33-year-old switching positions to make the final 53-man roster come September. The question in Jacksonville is whether Tebow's popularity outside the locker room will give him a leg up over a younger player attempting to make the team.
Meyer reiterated that Tebow is "working his tail off" but noted that he's pleased with how the entire locker room is competing during this stage of the offseason program.
"He's certainly lived it," Meyer said of what Tebow can bring to the locker room. "He's a guy that's as hard-working, as tough a human being as I've ever been around, as competitive. But the cool thing is, Rich, I'm finding a lot of that around here."
