Notebook: Tebow won't let comments faze him

Tim Tebow isn't letting Ricky Jean-Francois' comments get to him.

A day after LSU's defensive tackle told the Orlando Sentinel how he planned to "take (Tebow) out of the game" this Saturday, Florida's quarterback shot back.

"He wasn't meaning it like a lot of people took it," Tebow said after Tuesday's practice. "You try to use anything as motivation, too, but I don't think he really meant everything he said. Part of it was true. We do have a good training staff."

The 6-foot-3, 289-pound Jean-Francois told the Sentinel that getting a clean shot on Tebow is equivalent to "a car wreck without a seatbelt."

"If we get a good shot on him, we're going to try our best to take him out of the game," he continued. "With his size and his heart, it's hard to get a clean shot.

"If he does get hurt, there's a trained medical staff at Florida, so you can go to the training room on Sunday."

Tebow shrugged off it Jean-Francois' words, but assured that it does motivate him a little more.

Coach Urban Meyer, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled with the lineman's trash talk.

"There's no place for that," Meyer said of Jean-Francois' statements. "If you hear one of our guys say something, we just take him out of the media.

"You know what I think happened? I don't know this guy, but I think (reporters) say, ‘Give me something.' Our players have told me that. The Pounceys told me they say, ‘Come on, give me something.' They stick a microphone in a 19-year-old's face and say, ‘Give me something to say to this guy.'"

This isn't the first time Tebow has been called out by an opposing defender.

Before the 2007 Florida State game, Seminoles linebacker Geno Hayes told reporters that Tebow was "going down" that week.

Tebow answered with 351 yards of total offense and five touchdowns.

"I don't think it's ever really a good thing to talk trash," Tebow said. "All it really does is fire your opponent up and at least I know that's how it is for me and (his teammates) get fired up and are even more competitive because that's how I am."

Fourth-and-1 Nightmare

Florida commanded much of last years' LSU game, but kept the Tigers in it by failing to stop them on any of their five fourth-down attempts.

Including a fourth-and-1 at the Gators' seven that set up the game-winning touchdown run by Jacob Hester with just over a minute left.

"It was great execution on their part and it just shows you how close we were to winning that game," said defensive line coach Dan McCarney, who watched the game on TV last year. "I thought Florida's defense really played well most of that game, but they hit every fourth-down conversion. (LSU coach) Les (Miles) has shown many times in his career that he's not afraid to go for it. I'm sure he'll come in here with a lot of confidence in his offense to try and do it more."

Injury Update

Meyer said that redshirt sophomore running back Emmanuel Moody (ankle) didn't practice Tuesday and is doubtful this Saturday. He expects Moody to be healthy after the bye week. … Senior running back Kestahn Moore is still limited due to his hamstring injury, Meyer said. … Redshirt senior offensive lineman Jim Tartt (shoulder) is "feeling pretty good," Meyer said, but is only participating in non-contact drills. … Meyer said redshirt sophomore Marcus Gilbert and juniors Percy Harvin and Ryan Stamper are still nursing ankle injuries, but should be ready Saturday.