Malcolm Henry
By now you have heard that current Jacksonville Jaguar coach Urban Meyer is down bad.
Meyer decided that he was going to stay behind in Columbus and not travel back to Florida with his team in order to spend time with his grandkids. Instead, he chose to go to a bar (where there hangs a picture of him and his wife) and try to get it in with a co-ed… who of course blew up his spot on social media. Since then he has apologized, and apologized more. The Jags owner weighed in, so did his family — with his wife leaving social media — and the mystery girl going into seclusion.
Now Tim Tebow, Meyer’s surrogate son, and do-gooder extrordonaire has weighed in.
“Well, I think, first of all, this is a very disappointing, frustrating — and, honestly, heartbreaking — situation,” Tebow said. “When I first saw and heard about what happened, my heart was hurting for Ms. Shelley, coach’s wife — someone that I love very much — and his daughters, who I’m very close with and who I’ve talked to both of them this week and also had the chance of talking with coach and it was a very difficult week. And my advice to him was to apologize, to admit it, to learn from it and to never, never repeat it. And coach shared with me that it was one of the hardest times of his life. And he apologized, but he didn’t need to apologize to me.
“I know this has weighed so heavy on his heart, and he is hurting. And I do think, for some of the guys, he will have to earn back their trust and respect. And I think he really wants to do that. This is not something that I think anybody in his family takes lightly. This is a very serious situation, this is a very disappointing situation. But I also know that coach isn’t taking it lightly, and he knows what a big deal this is, how disappointing it is to so many people. And I believe that he wants to make amends, which is very hard and it takes a while. That’s the thing about a reputation — it takes a lifetime to build and a moment to lose.
“And he’s someone that love. I love Ms. Shelley and I love all three of his kids, very close with all of ’em. And I want to be able to give him the chance to earn back that respect and trust, but at the same time, not condoning those actions. But always being someone that gives people a chance to change, to grow and to be able to earn back that trust and that respect. And I love his entire family and praying for them in this hard time, because it’s so much bigger than football will ever be.”
Timmy starred at quarterback from 2006-09 for Florida when Meyer was the Gators’ head coach and remains close with Meyer, who also gave him a shot at making the Jaguars’ roster this offseason.
He said that the two will remain in one another’s life.
“When we talk, we barely talked about football because that pales in comparison to the rest of this,” Tebow said. “And he understands that, I really believe that. And I believe in that, too. I believe in restoration and grace and learning and growing, because we all really truly make mistakes. And I want grace for mine.”
It reads to me like Tebow isn’t mad, he’s disappointed…
