Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Tebow training in Arizona with British Olympians

Tim Tebow isn't letting the fallout of his disappointing 2012 season with the New York Jets keep him from working towards recapturing his NFL career.

After a season which the maligned quarterback completed only six passes, cracked his ribs and was passed up by Greg McElroy for the starting job — Tebow has been spotted working out at an Arizona community college without the fanfare that surrounded him only six months ago.

Tebow, the most famous backup quarterback in the NFL, knows his days with the Jets — and possibly the NFL — are numbered but told The New York Daily News he still is using this time of the year to work out and stay out of the spotlight.

"We're a long way from New Jersey," the reclusive Tebow said while working out at Paradise Valley Community College.

While big changes are happening on the Jets home front, Tebow has been training under British track coach Dan Pfaff alongside some British Olympians — 2,440 miles away from the chaos of MetLife Stadium.



Tebow, who was referred to Pfaff by a friend, surprised the coach with his natural athletic abilities.

"He was already quick and powerful,  but he's got quicker because he's technically learning how to run better," said Greg Rutherford, who holds an Olympic gold medal in the long jump.

"He knows how to learn; he knows how to work," added Rutherford's co-Olympian Andrew Steele.

Barely anything on the college field that Tebow has been doing is football-related.  He's been performing standing jumps over hurdles, explosive dashes down the track and launched weighted balls into a discus net.

Put it in slow motion with a techno soundtrack and you have "Chariots of Fire," only on an Arizona desert.



Tebow — who couldn't take his shirt off last season without causing a commotion — is just another bloke to the two Brits and it's not surprising that he doesn't talk a whole lot about the Jets with them.

"Weirdly, we haven't actually spoken that much about playing," said Rutherford, who gave Tebow his first cup of coffee ever. "For us, we don't talk about track when [we're not on the track]."

Tebow is facing an uncertain NFL future.  His hopes of landing with his hometown Jacksonville Jaguars fell through after new GM Dave Caldwell put the kibosh on that scenario and another year with Gang Green would probably be too much for the prideful Tebow to endure.  Did someone say tight end or fullback?

Anyway, there's always the Olympic decathlon down in Rio it sounds like he's ready for.

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