Can He, Will He, Should He Play?

Final Decision on Tebow Has Wide Ramifications

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow will trot onto the field Saturday night at Tiger Stadium and lead the No. 1 Gators against No. 4 Louisiana State. Or he won't.

If only it were that simple. Rather, Tebow's presence -- or lack thereof -- in Florida's huddle against the Tigers will carry weight on a number of different matters, only one of which concerns the Gators' chances of repeating as national champions.

Two weeks ago in a 41-7 win over Kentucky, Tebow suffered the first concussion of his career and opened up a host of questions. How soon is too soon to return from such an injury? Florida's backup signal caller, redshirt sophomore John Brantley, is skilled in his own right, but how quickly will the rest of the Gators' offense adjust to an untested quarterback under live -- and very hostile -- conditions? Can Florida afford to sit Tebow and thus increase the likelihood of LSU pulling off an upset, especially considering the Gators reside in perhaps the toughest conference in the country?

"There are two issues," Florida Coach Urban Meyer told reporters on Tuesday. "The safety of Tim Tebow and, obviously, the football team."

The Florida-LSU game is only one of several high-caliber Southeastern Conference pairings on Saturday. No. 20 Mississippi hosts No. 3 Alabama, and No. 17 Auburn travels to Arkansas. The outcomes of any of those three contests could play a significant role in determining which two squads square off in the conference title game, which itself might turn out to be a play-in for the national championship game. The SEC has produced the last three Bowl Championship Series title winners.

The two teams that own those three crowns will meet in Death Valley, where LSU has won 32 straight Saturday night games. Whether the Tigers can push the streak to 33 may depend largely on whether Tebow or Brantley is taking snaps for the Gators. Meyer said a decision would not be made regarding Tebow's availability until just before game time.

Tebow, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, has been tested almost daily since being knocked unconscious during a Sept. 26 win over Kentucky. The results have been compared to those of a baseline test Tebow took in June to determine how close the quarterback is to returning to his original measurements. Tebow has been asymptomatic since Monday, according to Meyer, and he has practiced without contact since Tuesday.

"The more difficult question that will have to be broached is how long will he be asymptomatic -- first at rest, but then with strenuous physical exertion -- before you let him play," said Robert Cantu, a concussion expert and chairman of the department of surgery at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass. "Because it is certainly not ideal that his first exertion is playing in a game. That's a potentially very ill-advised thing because what you really need him to do is physically condition and also take some hits to make sure they're not going to provoke symptoms again."

While Tebow's baseline testing should be part of the assessment, Cantu cautioned that it should be just one piece of information used to determine whether the quarterback is fit to compete. Meyer said that 12 people were involved in a 1 p.m. meeting on Tuesday in which Tebow was cleared to practice without contact. One of those people was Mickey Collins, a sports concussion clinician and researcher at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Though he understands the implications Saturday's game holds, Meyer repeatedly has said he will do what is best for Tebow's health, even at the potential cost of putting his team at a disadvantage.

"You consider what Tim Tebow means to that football team, and not only what he brings on the field -- forget about the Heisman Trophy -- you're talking about the essence and really he's the pulse and he's the identity, really, of that football team," ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer said. "The leadership is something that you really can't put a price tag on. . . . It will be very unique, certainly, for a lot of those other players to be looking into the huddle at a different quarterback, especially when you consider the environment they're going to be in."

Palmer would know: In 1997, he was a member of a top-ranked Florida team that traveled to Baton Rouge for a game under the lights. "That place is going to be absolutely rocking," he said.

The Gators' offense would not change dramatically with Brantley under center, though it likely would feature more vertical passing routes to take advantage of his strong throwing arm and might incorporate more plays out of a Wildcat formation. Florida offers the nation's top-ranked rushing attack, and Tebow's mobility played a large role in that. If Tebow is out, skill-position players such as tailback Jeff Demps, wide receiver Brandon James and tight end Aaron Hernandez could take direct snaps.

"I just think for all the guys in the huddle, right now they're just getting used to the sequence of play-calling," Palmer said. "They're certainly getting used to John Brantley's mannerisms, his cadence at the line of scrimmage, his rhythm and tempo in the huddle, and those are all very important things, again, considering the environment they're going to be in Saturday night."

After LSU, Florida hosts Arkansas, which owns the No. 7 passing offense in the nation; travels to Mississippi State, which put a scare into LSU two weeks ago; plays Georgia in Jacksonville, Fla.; and then hosts Vanderbilt.

Even with a loss on Saturday, Florida's national title hopes would likely remain alive, thanks to its membership in the nation's top conference. That fact only further muddles the question of whether Tebow should take the field.

"Certainly, it puts more pressure on the decision, because, again, this is a game that everybody circled," Palmer said. "But if you look at the stretch of games coming up for Florida over the next four weeks, it's tough. To be honest, that's a stretch that Florida could slip up once, even with a healthy Tim Tebow under center. While this is the biggest game of the year so far, [the Gators] have to do what gives them the best chance to win."