Tim Tebow vs. Gardner Minshew: A battle of the 15’s

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Tim Tebow, left, and Gardner Minshew. [AP photos]

From Jacksonville.com, a GateHouse Media publication

Remember when some fans wanted to see Tim Tebow in a Jaguars uniform? That didn’t happen. But now the Jaguars have another No. 15 — one who grew up rooting for Tebow.

“I was a big Florida fan,” Gardner Minshew said. “Liked Tim Tebow.”

We present to you, a tale of the tape between Tebow and Gardner Minshew:

Birth place

Tebow: Makati City, Philippines

Minshew: Flowood, Miss.

Birthday

Tebow: Aug. 14, 1987 (32)

Minshew: May 16, 1996 (23)

Full name

Tebow: Timothy Richard Tebow

Minshew: Gardner Flint Minshew II, though his grandfather wanted to name him Beowulf

Wonderlic score

Tebow: 22 out of 50, reportedly

Minshew: 42

Draft

Tebow: 2010, 1st round, 25th overall, Broncos

Minshew: 2019, 6th round, 178 overall, Jaguars

Height

Tebow: 6 feet 3 inches

Minshew: 6 feet 1 inches

Weight

Tebow: 255 pounds

Minshew: 220 pounds

Twitter followers

Tebow: 4.8 million

Minshew: 25,400

Twitter header photo

Tebow: Ad for his book, “This is the Day”

Minshew: Adapting a picture from “Talladega Nights” of Will Ferrell driving a car with a cougar in the front seat, Minshew (in white headband) instead shares the seat with a big Jaguar

Nickname

Tebow: None that stuck

Minshew: The Mississippi Mustache

Headwear

Tebow: fitted hat

Minshew: cool headband

Religion

Tebow: Devout Christian

Minshew: References God on Twitter

Pop culture doppelganger

Tebow: Superman

Minshew: Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite/Ben Stiller in Dodgeball

Colleges

Tebow: University of Florida

Minshew: Troy University, Northwest Mississippi Community College, Eastern Carolina University, Washington State.

End zone celebration

Tebow: A kneel that became known as “Tebowing”

Minshew: Varied but enthusiastic, according to college highlights.

Titles

Tebow: 2006 and 2008 BCS national championships at Florida

Minshew: 2015 Junior College national championship at Northwest Mississippi Community College

Heisman

Tebow: Won in 2007, 3rd in 2008, 5th in 2009

Minshew: 5th in 2018

Facial hair

Tebow: Manly stubble.

Minshew: Famous mustache.

Virginity pledge

Tebow: Pledged to abstain until marriage

Minshew: Probably didn’t pledge to abstain until marriage

Jorts

Tebow: Though Gators are known for them, he insisted, “I do not own a pair of jorts.”

Minshew: Yes. Short ones. Borderline Daisy Duke status.

Relationship status

Tebow: Engaged to 2017 Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters.

Minshew: For the sake of all his new Twitter followers, single, we hope.

Famous quote/speech

Tebow: His 2008 ‘Promise speech:’ “I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this.”

Minshew: Quoting Denzel Washington in Remember The Titans, “I don’t scratch my head unless it itches and I don’t dance unless I hear some music. I will not be intimidated. That’s just the way it is.”

Anagrams

Tebow: You can rearrange the letters in Timothy Tebow to spell “Met With Booty.”

Minshew: You can rearrange the letters in Gardner Minshew to spell “Grins When Armed.”

Throws

Tebow: left-handed

Minshew: right-handed

After the NFL

Tebow: baseball, broadcasting, philanthropy and public speaking

Minshew: hopes to become a coach

NFL completion percentage

Tebow: 47.9%

Minshew: 88%

College completion percentage

Tebow: 66.4%

Minshew: 65.2%

Steve Spurrier connection

Tebow: both won Heisman Trophies at Florida.

Minshew: Spurrier’s son was receivers coach at Washington State. The Head Ball Coach attended a game and wanted to congratulate Minshew afterward. But Minshew tells the story about how he was doing a stretching routine, wearing just his jockstrap, shades and headband. Spurrier looked at Minshew and said to his son, “Just tell him I said good game.”

As a recruit

Tebow: 5 stars, No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in 2006, No. 21 overall prospect

Minshew: 3 stars, No. 70 pro-style quarterback, No. 1,837 overall prospect

Al Gaspeny, Emily Bloch, Mark Woods, Matt Soergel and Tom Szaroleta contributed to this report.

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2 COMMENTS

  1. I knew Tebow was obviously highly rated and heavily recruited, but never knew for certain, until now, that he was a 5 star and the number one dual threat QB in the 2006 class. I bring this up because his “They said” Gatorade commercial starts with “They said I couldn’t be a high school quarterback. They said I couldn’t get a D-1 scholarship.” and ends with “Appreciate that”, as in “Thanks for the motivation”. With his ranking, I’m not sure who “They” could have possibly been. Who would be dumb enough to say a 5 star recruit won’t get a D-1 scholarship? My guess is that nobody actually said that, and that it was just a made up script for a commercial, or maybe a little white lie that Tim told himself for motivation. I’m curious to know what my friend Gator-6, with his training and knowledge in human thought and behavior, thinks about this. You hear athletes on highly ranked teams displaying an “us against the world, everybody’s doubting us” attitude all the time. Do they really need to convince themselves of a false disrespect in order to get motivated? It’s not like there’s a game to talk about, so I’m sure 6 can spare some time to sort this out.