Former Florida coach Urban Meyer doesn’t answer a plethora of questions about his former quarterback in this interview, but he makes it clear that he feels that the pressure is on the Broncos to put some adequate weapons around Tebow and not so much on the signal-caller himself.

Urban Meyer joined WDAE in Tampa with Ron and Ian to discuss why he thinks Tim Tebow will be successful in the NFL and how he’ll overcome that throwing motion, basically pinning the entire situation on the Broncos.

Why do you think Tebow will be successful as an NFL quarterback?:

“Same reason he was in high school and won the state championship and the national championship in college. Football is still football, whether it’s the spread offense, whether it’s the West Coast or I-formation. Competitors usually find ways to win games. Tim’s going to be successful, no doubt. I just hope that the Denver Broncos have enough firepower and they just get better as a team. I’m a Broncos fan now and I want to see those guys do well and one guy doesn’t change a team. Tim Tebow had a lot of success at Florida because he had Aaron Hernandez and Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy and the Pounceys. He had really good players that played well around him and an excellent defense.”

Do you think Tebow will overcome the deficiencies in his throwing motion?:

“It’s a question if the team will. I think Tim will. This whole thing that one guy in one phase of the game is all of the sudden is going to put the Denver Broncos in the playoffs, it’s always going to be this way that the quarterback gets far too much criticism and too much glory when they win. He’ll manage whatever deficiency he has in throwing the ball, it’s just a matter of if the Broncos can improve their play enough to win.”

Listen to Urban Meyer on WDAE in Tampa here

That’s where the Vols head this week, taking on the Gators in Gainesville for the  Southeastern Conference opener. It’ll also be Bray’s first start outside the state of Tennessee. He’s leading one of the top passing offenses in the country, but can he and the Vols keep it up against stiffer competition?

Tennessee coach Derek Dooley joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta with Barnhart and Durham to discuss the prolific play by his offense so far this season, particularly last week against Cincinnati, his biggest concerns with the Vols’ upcoming showdown with the rival Florida Gators, the emergence of quarterback Tyler Bray in his sophomore season, his team’s lack of experience in SEC road games, and the progression of the Vols’ defense.

Boy you really had your offense lighting it up against Cincinnati last week, didn’t you?:

“Our offense was really on all cylinders against Cincinnati and we needed to be because they’ve got a heckuva offense themselves. I was really proud of how we played the first two games. We did what Tennessee should do and now we’ll find out if we can become a player in the SEC.”

What are your biggest concerns with Florida?:

“Well, let’s start with they probably have the most talented defensive line in the country. Big and athletic guys up front. No matter how good our offense is playing and no matter how good our passing game’s been looking, if our five can’t block their four, it’s going to be a long day for Tennessee. On offense, even though they’re doing some things differently, schematically, they’re still doing a great job of getting their fast guys the ball in space.”

Quarterback Tyler Bray has put up some great numbers and played well, but is this the toughest defense he has faced?:

“I think it’s fair to say. That North Carolina defense that we faced in the bowl game was pretty good. They were really talented. Tyler, he’s 6-1 as a starter, he’s completed about 63 percent of his balls, he’s averaging about over 9 yards an attempt. He’s got some big numbers, but he just hasn’t proved it over time. Not everybody can do it against the teams he’s done it against, so I think that’s a good starting point. Now he’s going to have to learn to do it against some of the best teams in the league. … He hasn’t started a football game outside of the state of Tennessee. Most people don’t realize that. We played at Memphis, we played Vanderbilt at Nashville and we played at the Music City Bowl. … It’s going to be a challenge this week.”

On taking a team full of players that have never really played at Florida out on the road:

“We’ve had a total transformation of our roster and our football team. We’re heading down there with 17 freshmen and sophomores starting, so this is all going to be a new experience for them. We’re going to have to go get some scars. That’s the only way you can grow and develop into being a good team is to get some scars on you.”

Are you making the kind of progress you want to make on defense?:

“The jury’s still out. We’ve played OK. We’re really young on defense. We’ve started three true freshman. … We’ve made a lot of mistakes. It looks like a young defense out there. The good news is they’re playing hard. I think we have the right kind of guys in a lot of places. I think we’ll keep getting better each week. But, the offenses are going to get better and better. We haven’t been fully tested.”

Listen to Derek Dooley on 790 The Zone in Atlanta here

Muschamp hired Charlie Weiss to coordinate his offense, and he couldn’t be more thrilled to bring in a coach with experience as both a college head coach and NFL experience that can run a pro-style offense. From the sound of it John Brantley seems to be the quarterback of the future for the first year head coach. He also believes Jeff Demps will be running the football for Florida this fall once he returns from running for the U.S. National team in Italy. For Gator fans some things may change with Muschamp being a defensive coach, but he will look to resume Florida’s reign on the SEC once again when camp begins on August 5th.

Will Muschamp joined WFXJ in Jacksonville with Pete Prisco to discuss what the biggest adjustment for him so far as the new head coach of the Florida Gators, what he has seen out of John Brantley so far, where his relationship with Charlie Weiss came from, Jeff Demps playing football for the Gators this fall and the SEC East being wide open this year.

Talk about the start of your job as the head coach of the Florida Gators? What has been the biggest adjustment for you?

“I said it today several times: just time management. I mean I want to be involved with our team as far as the X’s and O’s are concerned, coaching our football team and being part of the installation and being part of the defensive staff. And as a head coach you got some things that occasionally come across your desk and you got deal with those as well, but I need to do a better job just managing time and making sure we’re very constructive with our time as far as preparing our football team.”

What have you seen from John Brantley?

“I think what we are asking him to do is to fit his skill set a little bit better. I think Charlie [Weiss] does a real nice job of figuring out what the quarterback can do well because it is such a critical position to have a guy play productive. I see his confidence grow. I think his teammates have great confidence in him on both sides of the ball. I’m excited about our future with John. I really am. I think he has had a good spring. I think all the reports I’ve got from the summer have been positive. I’m looking forward to getting started on August 5th.”

Where did your relationship with Charlie Weiss come from? Talk about how you got him to become the offensive coordinator?

“We had several mutual friends that reached out to me. They said ‘Hey listen you may want to take a look at this.’ I think hiring a staff to me is no different than recruiting. You kind of identify critical factors of what you are looking for at a position and what I wanted with the offensive coordinator at Florida was a guy who had NFL experience and had head coached in college. I wanted a quarterbacks coach. I wanted an accomplished play caller. Well that’s Charlie Weiss. It just worked out that things worked our way as far as moving his family to Gainesville and we’re excited he is a Gator.”

Jeff Demps claims he is going to play football. How is that going to work out?

“Jeff and I again we talked all summer. Like I said earlier he is a guy who I expect to be part of our football team. He is in Italy right now and he’s coming back. He and I will sit down and get eyeball-to-eyeball and work this thing out. He wanted to run with the U.S. National Team and there’s not many chances a guy gets an opportunity to run for his country and it was important to him and it was important to me. We’ll sit down next week and iron this things out.”

Traditionally the SEC is always strong. Do you feel the SEC East is wide open this year?

“Well again I really worry about our football team. We prepare and watch film on the opponents we play that are on our schedule, so that’s all I really focus on. Some of the other teams that we don’t play I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to unless we are fortunate enough to make it to Atlanta and we play them there.”

Listen to Will Muschamp on WFXJ in Jacksonville here

Big 12

Mack Brown with CJ & Klatt on 102.3 The Ticket in Denver

Bob Stoops with CJ & Klatt on 102.3 The Ticket in Denver

SEC

Dan Mullen with Mayhem in the AM on 790 The Zone in Atlanta

Will Muschamp with Barnhart & Durham on 790 The Zone in Atlanta

Dabo Swinney with Zach & Marc on WFNZ in Charlotte

ACC

Al Golden with Sid Rosenberg on WQAM in Miami

Tebow joined 790 The Zone in Atlanta to talk about how he manages all the different obligations and expectations competing for his attention, how proud his parents are of him for his high character, if he understands why some people can’t stand all the Tim Tebow mania at times, how he’s a little bit weirded out by having a statue of him at The Swamp, how close he came to attending Alabama, how Urban Meyer’s presence was the deciding factor for him, the feeling of losing to Georgia and committing to excellence after the tough loss, what he’s been working on with his game this offseason, his thoughts on college players getting paid, his relationship with John Elway, the Lockout, and how much he feels the Lockout may or may not be affecting his ability to develop his game.

On how he manages to handle all the different things vying for his attention:

“Well I think you have to just handle each situation as best as possible and treat everyone like you want to be treated. If you do that, then I think people are going to like you and respect you. And you are going to be a lot better off for it.”

On having to say no to people at times:

“Well you can’t worry about that. You have to do what’s best for you and you have to treat people the right way. And if you have to go, if you have to be busy, you can’t take every picture and sign for everybody, although I’d like to and I try to because I am a people pleaser, I really am. But sometimes, and my family and support staff really helps me with that, is you’ve got to go, you can’t stay there for three hours after this, we’ve got to get you to the next thing and go. So they really help me, and they’re more the bad guy for me than I ever have to be. And that makes it a lot easier for me…”

On how proud his parents must be of him and the type of young man he is:

“Well I think they’re very proud of some of those things. I think one example of that is my senior year going to the Orlando Awards, I had just heard that I wasn’t going to win any of them; and I kind of knew that going in because we had just lost to Alabama. So my mom, she was sitting right beside me and I had taken a young lady with me who had some medical things going wrong with her, and she was working through it and just an awesome girl. I had taken her and walked down the red carpet with me and spent all night with me. So I leaned over the my mom and said ‘at this point I’m not going to win any awards.’ And she said ‘oh but Tim you did, you won more award that you can even imagine. You made us more proud than if you won the Heisman or anything else.’ So those moments are ones that are really special to me and that I really take to heart.”

If he understands why some people are tired of the Tim Tebow mania all the time:

“I definitely understand that, and people are entitled to their own opinion. I just try to when I meet someone, or when I come in contact with someone, to always leave a better impression than before I got there. Honestly, that’s something that drives me because I want to be genuine, I want to be real, I want to tell people listen, I’m trying to do it the right way, I’m trying to go out there and reach my goals but you know what, I stumble, I make mistakes, I’m not perfect. And when they realize that you’re real but you’re trying hard to get better every day, you’re trying to accomplish your dreams, and you’re trying to uplift everyone around you, hopefully they can respect you for that.”

If he likes the fact that there’s been a statute of him at The Swamp:

“It’s a little weird to be honest with you. It’s very humbling, it’s a great honor, but to be honest, I got to tell you I probably won’t look at it too much because it’s a little weird. But it is an extremely huge honor, and it’s very humbling to think that you’re etched in stone or granite or marble or whatever it is.”

On how close he came to attending Alabama:

“It was very close. I mean, down to the very last second I had no idea where I was going to go and it was between two great schools. My whole high school career, I thought I was going to Alabama because Urban wasn’t at Florida at that time, and they had Coach Shula — I loved him, I respected him as family, I loved the passion Alabama fans had for the game. That was something, you watch me play, I love it, I’m passionate about it, and seeing those fans, I loved it, I was in to it. And they had great players and I had become friends with a lot of their players, so most of my high school career I honestly thought I was going to Alabama. Then this guy named Urban Meyer got the job at Florida, and he worked harder than any coach at single handedly trying to recruit for a year and a half. And at the end I bought into it, I believed him. You could see something about this guy in his eyes – that fire, that passion – that he’s something special, that he’s going to do something special. And I believed I could lead his team to do something extremely special. And I believed that. At the end of the day, that’s why I went to Florida. It wasn’t because it was close to home, it wasn’t because of the spread offense, it was because I believed in the man Urban Meyer.”

On what he’s been working on with his game this offseason:

“Well I believe this offseason has been great. Just working extremely hard, on the grind pretty much all offseason, I haven’t taken a break. I’ve been working a lot on my drops from under center, I haven’t done any shotgun stuff all offseason. Everything’s just been under center — straight drops, play-action fakes, straight drops, fives, sevens — just working on all the throws. Accuracy and precision with my passes has been the number one thing that I’ve worked on all offseason and I believe that I’ve improved that a lot. I’m excited, I’m excited when we’re allowed to go out there and start playing football to go out there and start competing.”

How shocked was he when Urban Meyer resigned:

“It wasn’t that it was a complete shock to me, because the year before when he was going through a lot of health issues and different stress issues, and he decided to resign and then he came back, he only came back because he loved his players so much and he wanted to coach us one more time, and he wanted to be around. So he came back because of the love of that, and he wanted to keep going because he felt like he owed it to the players. But then after this year, I believe he felt he owed it more to his family — to be a dad, to go to his son’s baseball games, to coach his son, to go to Nicky and Gigi’s volleyball games. And I know he’s spending a lot of time in Atlanta because Nicky is balling out for Georgia Tech volleyball. So he wanted to go to her games, he wanted to go to Gigi’s games, he wanted to spend time with Nate and be a dad. And we would talk all the time, I would go up to his office and we would hang out every day and those were the things that I respect the most about him — it’s not the coaching things, it’s about how much he wanted to be a father figure to his players, to his kids, and also to be a husband and be with his family. That was the most important thing to him. And you know, coaching, he might get back into that at another time, but right now, it was most important to be with his family. And if people want to criticize him and say you quit, no, you know what he did, he took Utah and he made them as good as they could be, he took Florida and won two national titles, and then he said you know what, I’m going to go be a dad, and if you don’t like that oh well. And I love it. And to all the people that say he’s a quitter, well, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Good for him.”

Whether he thinks college players should be paid:

“No I don’t believe college players should be paid, but I believe there should be some…say when you get your check and you go off campus, and you get $800 for your apartment and what not, I believe you should be given a little more. Because I remember sometimes at Florida I would grab extra shakes from the locker room and bring them and just have cereal for dinner, because sometimes you wouldn’t have money for dinner. When you’re having I mean, a lot of different people make millions and millions off you, I think you should at least be allowed to have the means and the resources to have a good dinner here, to go do this, to have money to go fill up on gas, to do the simple things. So I don’t think it should turn into college players should start getting paid a lot, but especially with where a lot of players come from, a lot of them need that extra hand so they’re not going to go try to get it in other places and get in trouble. But so they can go get dinner, go do this after a hard practice.”

On getting to have a close relationship with John Elway:

“It’s been a great relationship for me. I got to spend a lot of time with him since I got drafted before he was officially a part of the club. He’s just been great. Before my first start against Oakland, he had me over for dinner that Tuesday night and we just talked and hung out and he just gave me advice. He does great things like that. He just loves being involved and talking and giving advice, and sometimes it’s just a little thing here, or a little thing here, just simple things and you’re like ‘ah, I’m going to listen, it’s John Elway.’ It’s amazing, especially as a young guy getting to learn from a guy like that.”

How much he thinks the lockout might be hurting him as he tries to develop into a starting quarterback in the NFL:

“Well I look at it two ways. I would love to be there going through OTAs with the coaches, with everyone; but also I look at in positive ways. I know there’s a lot of great players, but I also know there’s a lot of players out there that are loving this right now and they’re not going to work everyday extremely hungry, and they’re resting on their laurels a little bit and saying ‘hey, this is a vacation for me.’ I love that because everyday I’m looking to get better. So I believe that’s an opportunity for me to get an edge on a lot of players and I’m going to take that. Whether that’s true or not, that’s in my head and that’s all that matters.”

Listen here to Tebow with Mayhem in the AM on 790 The Zone in Atlanta

Will Mushamp joined WQAM in Miami to talk about if the hiring of Charlie Weis is going to affect the players Urban Meyer already has committed, if he has talked to John Brantley and whether or not he is staying at Florida, and how he was able to convince Charlie Weis to come back to the college game.

How important it is to recruit heavily in Miami:

“Well I think the key, and you look at the two states, a lot of young men are going to sign out of each state, OK.  I think they key is the evaluation and taking the right guy because there is a lot of good football players in South Florida, and if you just take Palm, Broward and Dade County, there is phenomenal football players.  I would say over 200 kids out of those three counties are going to sign Division I scholarships.  It is not about the multitude of players as it is about signing the right guy, and that is where it goes back to your evaluation process and taking the right guy that is going to do a great job academically for you, is going to represent your university in a first-class manner and play good on the football field.”

If the hiring of Charlie Weis is going to affect the players Urban Meyer already has committed:

“I think that Coach Meyer has already a lot of good football players committed.  We are honoring all their commitments and I have watched all of the film and I am excited they are all going to be Gators I can tell you that.  There are some really good football players in this class coming in.  But again, when you have some changes you tailor a little bit to more to what you want to be offensively, and what I really like about Charlie, and he and I believe philosophically on the same thing, you can’t take a scheme and throw it on your players.  You have to evaluate your team, you have to evaluate your players and decide what you can do.  We are not on a five-year plan.  We have got to win here immediately.  That is what is expected and that is what we are expecting, so we have got to figure out right now what we can do to be successfully offensively with the players we have on our campus.  Again, philosophically, Charlie and I believe the same things.”

If he has talked to John Brantley and whether or not he is staying at Florida:

“I have talked to John, and again, we want guys that want to be Gators and John has been a good Gator and of course a Gator family, they are the Brantley family.  So we are excited about all of our players returning and again we are going to move forward with what we have.”

How he was able to convince Charlie Weis to come back to the college game:

“Well Charlie is very close with his family and it is a situation where his daughter Hannah is, they need to move back to South Bend.  She is a special-needs child and he and his wife Mara are going to move back to South Bend to a more comfortable place for them where she can go to school.  His son Charlie Jr. is going too and he is going to college and they were choosing colleges and looking at the University of Florida, so I kind of heard that through a third-party and said ‘This might be an interesting thing to see if we can check out’ and I called Kansas City and asked for permission to talk to him and got him on the phone there and all of a sudden we had a lot of interest on his end and a lot of interest on ours…  At the end of the day it is still Florida.  It is a great place to coach.  You are going to coach at a high-level.  You are coaching with an administration that will do anything to be successful and do it the right way.  Charlie had a great interest in coming to Florida.  At the end of the day it worked out for everybody involved and I am excited to have a guy that is as accomplished as he is as a play-caller, developing quarterbacks and he had won four Super Bowls.  We are going to put two on each finger when he is going to recruit around here.”

Will Muschamp on WQAM in Miami with Joe Rose

When Meyer went out and sought advice from other college coaches he was stunned to hear that most of them take a leave of absence of their own during the offseason just to get away from it all to regenerate for the next season.  Just recently, Meyer admitted to having dealt with chest pains for the last three years and that he received treatment and that he was diagnosed with having esophageal spasms, not heart problems which was originally reported.  In addition to his health problems, he has dealt with a confrontation with a reporter during spring practice that sparked a media frenzy, losing his defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, and most of all, his quarterback Tim Tebow.  For reasons mentioned, the upcoming season is going to be his toughest yet.  I am very interested in how he and the team are going to respond to an unpredictable future.

Urban Meyer joined WQAM in Miami with Joe Rose to talk about how he is feeling after a crazy offseason thus far, whether being somewhat hands-off while taking a break has been hard on him and whether he has been able to do it, and how he would feel about Florida State and Miami coming into the SEC conference.

How he is feeling after a crazy offseason thus far:

“Yeah it is actually the first time that I have taken some time; I got to do some family time.  I had a daughter go to college last year so she came home for about four or five weeks now.  So I get to spend a lot of time with her, but I am doing real good though.  Thanks for asking.”

Whether being somewhat hands-off while taking a break has been hard on him and whether he has been able to do it:

“Well I sought out a lot of advice and talk to some guys and doing what I was doing wasn’t working and I think it was a wake-up call.  The fact that there was some health things and there was never been an issue on what is the priority in my life.  Football is very important but it is not going to overtake faith, family, health and it happened.  So I just got to be a little smarter and I am not the smartest guy in the world so I went out and sought some advice and it has been great though.  What I do is I really found out that I appreciate my coaches more, I appreciate my strength coaches more and we have a good program here.  To say that you have to micromanage everything, you don’t have to do that.”

On there not being an offseason in college football and having to do things year round:

“Well the greatest example is the year that we played Oklahoma down in Miami and the week of the championship, I believe it was on the eighth, and we started classes on the fourth.  So as we were walking off the field and people, we were telling the story, as we were walking off the field I don’t really even remember and I kind of get our SID and I said, ‘Hey we got to get our team back because they are missing classes.  We already missed one week of recruiting.’  We just won the National Championship and we missed one week because during that whole week was a live recruiting period and we were missing that whole week recruiting because we were practicing for the game and then our kids had already missed four days of school, so I am panicking about that in the locker room after the game when we won a National Championship.  There is something wrong with that.”

How he would feel about Florida State and Miami coming into the SEC conference:

“Well I think that would be great for the SEC.  I had not done the research.  I get asked a lot of questions.  I just, as I was walking down the hallway in the media they said that Nebraska is heading to the Big Ten.  That is going to send some shock waves if that really happens.  I know one thing, our commissioner and our office… they won’t be caught by surprise.  We got the best people.  They are phenomenal in the job they do.  That is a natural fit, the two schools that you just mentioned.  We play one of them every year and the other one is a great rivalry as well.”

On Miami and FSU being apart of the SEC and what a conference that would be:

“Yeah I mean as a coach you look at it like, ‘Here we go, let’s go add a couple of more powerhouses’ because you have got to go play them.  But as far as interest on a national level, as far as quality of play, right now the SEC is the best and I think that is part of the shock waves across the country the last four or five years, the television contracts and the interest level that is taking place in the SEC that is forcing some of these other conferences to go ahead and react.  It is going to be interesting.  The one thing that you can rest assured though, is that the SEC, the coaches aren’t involved in this but the commissioner Mike Slive, the guy is phenomenal.  He is right in the middle.  He has got his hands on some buttons if we have to do what we have to do.”

Urban Meyer on WQAM in Miami with Joe Rose

McDaniels joined  1600 ESPN in Denver to talk about the process of evaluating Tebow at the Scouting Combine, why he’s confident Tebow will grasp the mental aspects of the NFL game, how he doesn’t believe that his future is tied to anyone player’s success, and the rest of the Denver Broncos 2010 NFL Draft class.

On the meeting that he and the Broncos brass had with Tim Tebow at the Scouting Combine:

“We have a small room and obviously I think there’s eight of us, eight of the Bronco contingent are in there and there’s a table set up, and the player sits across from myself and Brian (Xanders), and we have people flanking him and there’s a couple people behind him taking notes. So it’s pretty crowded, and quaint. With some people it probably could be intimidating, not because of me or anybody else, but just because there’s so many people there. You know, Matt Russell always kinds of leads off the conversation, and we got some of that stuff out of the way for about two minutes, and then it immediately became a passionate football conversation, and I don’t believe anybody else got to ask a question or say anything in the other 13 minutes that we had, because I was just going back and forth and really interested in his answers and responses, and how confident he was, but also how controlled he was. You could just tell it was a situation he was comfortable with because it was a subject that he loved. Electric, passionate, whatever you want to call it – it was a really good 15 minutes, very productive for us.”

On if it’s exciting to be around a guy (Tebow) that seemingly is as passionate about football as he is:

“Yeah I think you definitely want…if you can get 53 people on your roster that love this game and are passionate about trying to do anything they can to win, I think that’s definitely the goal. And Tim definitely demonstrated that, as did most or all of our draft picks. And that’s a good thing, and again, I think that basically just made us want to continue to do our research, and make us want to continue to evaluate and look into everything that we could. And he didn’t do anything obviously to discourage us from doing that.”

On how he’s as confident Tebow will be able to dissect NFL defenses as he is that he’ll be a passionate gritty player that gives his all every play:

“I think a lot of people are taking it pretty far in terms of criticism of this player. You sit this player down and talk to him relative to most other college football quarterbacks that I’ve done coming out of college, sometimes it doesn’t even get close in terms of his understanding of defense and football aptitude. So, you know, people can be critical of his release or delivery, but to talk about his mental ability and his ability to read defenses and all that stuff – some of that stuff he was doing at Florida was as difficult as what we’re going to do here in Denver. So in terms of the mental side of the game, I don’t think anybody’s all that concerned bout that. I think that’s something he’s going to be able to eat up, it’s just a matter of him being able to do that  at the same time he’s trying to understand what we’re trying to do with our offense, and what we’re trying to do against each team that we play. So it’s a long process and a lot of work, and like every rookie he’s far behind. But he’ll come in with a great attitude and hopefully improve the competition at that spot incredibly.”

On if he agrees that his tenure in Denver will ultimately be determined by whether or not Tebow pans out as a legitimate starting QB:

“I don’t really stake my future and I’m not really concerned about that on one player. I think we’ve got a good, solid football team in this locker room in this building and we’re going to win games as a team. It’s not going to be a one man show. And we certainly didn’t draft any player in any draft so far in two years that we expect to carry our football team on his back. Any player that we’ve drafted will contribute to help us win, I’m sure. We feel like we’ve got the right mix of veteran players with some young up and coming players. But I know this – we’re tougher, we’re smarter, and we got guys that love football. We don’t value that for nothing. We think that that’s important. We think that our chemistry as a football team is going to be improved significantly, and we’re looking forward to putting that together. And I think ultimately wins and losses will determine how we all are judged.”

On the team’s two 3rd round picks, center J.D. Walton and wide receiver Eric Decker:

“I’ll tell you this. They’re both tough, smart kids. I really spent a lot of time with them in this process. I think J.D. knows half our offense by now. We felt good about him. We played against a significant level of competition. I mean he battled and played against the guys that were taken 2 and 3 in this draft in Sun and McCoy. And he held his own and was very impressive in those two games. He can do a lot of things. He’s tough, he anchors the pocket well, he’s decent in run blocking, and we’re excited about the opportunity J.D. will bring this football team. Eric Decker is definitely a player we feel should have been drafted higher than where he was. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to get him there. We saw him as of one of the top few receivers in this draft, no question about it. We know he had a foot injury that is healing well. This is a guy who has tremendous size – 6’3″, 217, great hands, very versatile, he’s a good route runner, he uses his body well, and we think him and Demaryius will really be able to give us some impact in the red zone and some of those situations where you want to put the ball up for a bigger receiver. We feel we’ve got two guys now that can go up and get the ball.”

Listen here to McDaniels with Vic & Gary on ESPN 1600 in Denver

Joe Haden joined ESPN 850 WKNR in Cleveland with Michael Reghi to talk about whether or not he thought he would be a Brown, the ups and downs of the pre-draft process, his slow forty time, and what his expectations are for his rookie season.

On whether or not he felt like he would be a Cleveland Brown:

“I knew there was a real good shot when I came to my visit and as I worked out I talked to (Mike) Holmgren and he was talking about how he can’t promise me anything, but they’re very, very interested in picking me at number seven.  After he told me that, I kinda felt I had a good chance of coming.”

On the slow forty time that he posted at the combine and how that hurt his stock:

“I felt kinda down, but it was more media than it was scouts.  The scouts said that it must’ve been the back injury because the film doesn’t show you running a 4.5, the film shows you 4.4 or 4.3.  I was like yeah, that’s what I run.  After that I just had to make sure I made up for it at my pro day.  After that, I knew everything was going to be okay.”

On transitioning from a high school QB to a college corner while playing in the SEC:

“At first, I was raw.  I didn’t have too much technique and I didn’t understand the game on the defensive side.  I just was out there just trying to do what the coaches asked me to do.  I didn’t really have a concept down.  Then I finally started learning it my sophomore year when Coach (Vance) Bedford came along.  He taught me about splits, alignments, film study, receiver lean, and down and distances.  That’s when you really start getting into the stuff when you notice you’re becoming a real corner.  That’s when I started turning into a real corner, in my junior year.  That’s when I finally had it going.”

On his expectations for his rookie season:

“Right now I’m just going to come in here and try to learn and let Coach (Donnie) Henderson coach me up and just bring everything I got to the table.  I’m not gonna say that I’m gonna come in and start right away or be a nickel or anything like that.  I just want stuff to fall into place.  All I can control is how hard I go and how hard I work.”

Listen to Joe Haden on ESPN 850 WKNR here

I don’t know how effective Tim Tebow will be at the next level.  I don’t think anyone really knows.  He is more than likely a player that will need to be coached up for about two or three years before he can really become an NFL quarterback.  But Tebow has made tremendous strides already in just six weeks and just imagine what he can do in about two or three years with continued work and dedication.  Tebow has been doubted his entire life.  He has heard all the naysayers and up until this point he has proven those doubters wrong.  I fully expect him to do the same to those that doubt whether or not he can be an NFL Quarterback.  I have never bet against Tim Tebow and you better believe that I’m not going to start now.

Tim Tebow joined WGFX in Nashville to talk about how the pre-draft process is going, when he realized he needed to change his throwing motion, and what kinds of things he learned from Urban Meyer at Florida.

On how the pre-draft process is going for him:

“It’s actually going really well.  I’ve enjoyed the process.  Coming into it you hear a lot of people saying how it’s gonna be so overwhelming and it’s gonna be kind of a frustrating process and so long.  For me, it hasn’t been at all like that.  It’s been somewhat tedious with things, but I’ve enjoyed it.  Going on these visits, I’m meeting with coaches that I’ve looked up to and watched for years.  And I’m meeting players that I grew up idolizing.  I’m enjoying the process and enjoying just talking ball, working out, training, and doing all the things I love to do.  For me, it’s been a great process and I’ve enjoyed every step of it.”

On whether or not he thought the conversation about Urban Meyer failing him was overblown:

“Absolutely.  Coach Meyer’s number one job is to win football games and do what they are paid to do; That’s win football games and win championships and so far Coach Meyer has done a great job of that.  A lot of other coaches can learn from that as well.  His job is to win championships and take young boys and making them into men.  That’s what he does.  It doesn’t matter the philosophy of offense that he runs, he does a great job of taking young boys and making them men and winning football games.  Getting them to believe in themselves and believe in the system.  He does a great job with that.  I wouldn’t trade my four years for anything at the University of Florida.  I think what most people don’t realize about the University of Florida is that we have so many different components to our offense.  We have some digit system, we have some west coast, we have some triple option, we have some single wing, and run so much different stuff that when we go meet these coaches you know football, you know how to talk it, you know how to understand it.  I think that’s one of the greatest things that I’ve taken from Florida.”

On when he realized that he had to change his throwing motion:

“I always knew that I had a loop in it and a drop so I knew that going into the Senior Bowl I wanted to work on it and I wanted to improve it and take some slack out of it.  Really for the last six weeks, I’ve been training hard at it.  Really doing three throwing sessions a day to improve it.  I’ve enjoyed it.  It’s been a great process for me and I really felt like I’ve improved a lot on it.”

On how tough the end of the season was with Urban Meyer’s health issues:

“It was a bit of a rollercoaster.  He was dealing with different health problems and he was trying to handle it and it was a lot for him.  It came kinda to a peak after the SEC Championship game and he was trying to do the best thing for his family and that was one of the toughest decisions that he’s ever made in his life.  But then he realized that if he just took some time away, relaxed, rested, and tried to get his body under control to get back.  He loves coaching, he loves his players at Florida, and he loves what he does.”

Listen to Tim Tebow on WGFX in Nashville with Mark Howard, Frank Wycheck and Kevin Ingram