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Tim Tebow explains how ‘Bama fatigue’ could influence Tua Tagovailoa’s Heisman candidacy
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For most of the year, Tua Tagovailoa winning the Heisman Trophy seemed like a foregone conclusion.
But Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray has put together an impressive season of his own, so much so that over the past month many pundits have said Murray is right behind Tagovailoa in the Heisman race. Coupled with what Tim Tebow calls “‘Bama fatigue,” Murray’s performance could create a scenario where Tagovailoa doesn’t take home the prestigious honor this season.
Tebow explained that train of thought on Friday’s edition of “The Paul Finebaum Show,” advocating for Heisman voters to think carefully about which player they deem worthy for the honor.
“I hope people and voters don’t have ‘Bama fatigue,” Tebow said. “Because of ‘Bama’s success since 2009, (people say) ‘Oh, it’s more ‘Bama talk,’ even though this is different; it’s a Heisman. But it’s just, ‘More ‘Bama, more ‘Bama.’
“We’ve heard about Tua all year, and Kyler’s kind of the new shiny thing. If they vote for Kyler, I hope it’s because he deserves to win it and not because they don’t want to vote for Tua.”
Finebaum chimed in on the discussion, saying he thinks a similar national fatigue with Florida hurt Tebow’s Heisman candidacy during his time at the school. Tebow earned the award in 2007 but was just a finalist in 2008 when the Gators won the national championship and again the following year when they had an undefeated regular season and went to the Sugar Bowl.
The Crimson Tide has won five national titles since 2009, which Tebow believes is the cause for widespread boredom with the program. Alabama, however, produced its first two Heisman winners during that span with running backs Mark Ingram in 2009 and Derrick Henry in 2015.
Will the team get its third winner this year? We’ll find out over the coming weeks.
Marcus covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
