Tebow upbeat after rough week

MOBILE, Ala. – Tim Tebow rarely plays without heart.

In Saturday’s Senior Bowl, try playing without 10 pounds and a healthy esophagus.

There was the quarterback of the night, fresh off a respectable yet unspectacular performance in blustery weather, taxed from a viral esophagus infection yet still being mobbed by overzealous fans banging on his shoulders before he crossed the 50-yard line.

His South team lost 31-13 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and his forehead was a shade of purple and red.

And the guy wouldn’t stop smiling.

The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner from Florida sees this week as an accomplishment despite scouts ripping him, struggles in practice and an 8-of-12 passing performance for 50 yards with no touchdowns and two fumbles.

He’s just trying to get better. This week helped.

“I don’t know if it was difficult – a lot of it was anticipating – but it was good for me,” said Tebow. “I’m just working, coming out here and competing.”

Just making the game was a serious battle.

After starting the week with a 103.5 fever and profuse sweating late into Monday night, Tebow ended the week less than 230 pounds with sharp pains in his chest every time he swallowed.

Tebow rolled out of bed to participate in 23 plays, almost half from the shotgun.

Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano, who led the South team, said he wanted to rotate Tebow and the two other South quarterbacks – Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson and West Virginia’s Jarrett Brown – every 12 plays.

Tebow handled the first two drives, 11 plays total, before giving way until 3:45 left in the third quarter. By then, much of the 40,646 in attendance had filtered out of the stadium, but the remaining fans flickered their cameras in unison when he entered.

Accuracy wasn’t the issue with Tebow, whose receivers didn’t come down with three passes that ranged from easy catch to catchable with an acrobatic play.

He hardly went deep, missing a 25-yard attempt to wide-open USC tight end Anthony McCoy on the game’s first drive. The rest of his passes were short to intermediate routes.

Fumbles derailed his rhythm, one by Ole Miss’ Dexter McCluster on the second play of his third-quarter series and two fumbles of his own, one a turnover and one recovered.

Tebow got stripped on what appeared to be a draw play, then got hit while in a throwing motion from his own end zone.

“Most of the times in the drives, we had a pretty good rhythm hitting the receivers,” Tebow said. “The only thing that hurt us on drives were a few negative plays.”

Out of six quarterbacks in the game, Tebow probably had the third-best performance behind Robinson (12 of 21 for 176 yards, one touchdown) and Central Michigan’s Dan LeFevour (5 of 10, 97 yards, one touchdown) from the North team.

Sparano called coaching Tebow for a week “outstanding” and said he’s a smart player who doesn’t let the critiques bother him.

“I don’t think it’s any different than any other day in the life of Tim Tebow,” Sparano said. “The guy’s going to be a good professional.”