Tim Tebow to return to Florida for his senior season

The Florida Gators football team and their supporters received a belated Christmas gift on Sunday as Tim Tebow used a victory celebration for the team’s national championship triumph to announce that he’d forego the NFL draft and return for his senior season. 

Before a crowd of over 40,000 that had gathered to celebrate Florida’s second national title in three years, Tebow made a light hearted show out of his announcement.  After addressing the crowd he started to leave the stage, doubled back and stated:

"Oh, by the way, let's do it again. I'm coming back"

There had been some speculation that the deeply religious Tebow would opt for the NFL seeking a bigger stage for his ministerial and charitable work.  Head coach Urban Meyer had set up meetings for Tebow with several NFL coaches to evaluate his prospects at the professional level .  Ultimately, Tebow wasn’t swayed by any of their comments and now suggests that he never seriously considered leaving for the NFL.  After the championship celebration festivities were over, he commented:

"Overall, I just felt loyal to this place. I feel like I'm a role model, and a lot of times people start things and don't finish them. I didn't want to be like that. I wanted to be loyal to the university. I wanted to finish what I started and play another year.

"It was tough because some of that stuff is tempting at the next level and everything that goes along with it, especially ending on a great note ending with the national championship and moving on from there. I love these guys and coach Meyer and this program too much and I feel we can still end on a bang next year."

Tebow also wanted to end the speculation about his future plans as quickly as possible.  He made his final decision after meeting with Meyer on Saturday and noted that the victory celebration was a great opportunity to make his plans known to the public:

"I wanted to get it done with because I could barely sleep as it is thinking about it and I just wanted to enjoy winning a national championship and not have to worry about this. It was a little bit of a burden on me. I wanted to just get it done with and enjoy winning a national championship for a week or so."

Florida coach Meyer also expressed his pleasure at Tebow returning for his senior year, suggesting that his value to the university extended far beyond his considerable skills on the gridiron:

"There's the functional football player part of it, but we all know it's much deeper than that. He is so good for college football. He is unbelievable. When my daughter texts me in the morning the Bible verse he has under his eyes it's good for college football, it's good for young people, it's good for everything."

Tebow will have a good look at a second Heisman Trophy, a feat that has only been accomplished once before by Ohio State’s Archie Griffin in 1974 and 1975.  He also has the opportunity to join Notre Dame’s John Lujak and Leon Hart as the only players to ever win a Heisman Trophy and three college football national championships.