LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -It’d be so much easier for Ricky Lumpkin if he could hate Tim Tebow.
The Kentucky defensive lineman has been searching for two years for an excuse to get mad at Florida’s All-Everything quarterback. Lumpkin’s not picky. Any perceived slight will do.
Yet heading into Kentucky’s showdown with the top-ranked Gators (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) on Saturday, Lumpkin is still waiting for Tebow to do something – anything – to get him riled up.
“He’s a good guy, you can’t hate him,” Lumpkin said. “You have to like him as a person and a player. I respect him. I’ve seen what he has done. He can do everything.”
And he does it with a smile.
Lumpkin has found himself face-to-face with the former Heisman Trophy winner in the middle of a pile-up several times over the last two years, a place that’s usually ground zero for a little jawing between opponents.
seems, when the opponent is Tebow.
Despite a seeming tidal wave of accolades most players never dream of, success apparently hasn’t gone to Tebow’s head.
“It’s just weird because he just doesn’t say anything,” Lumpkin said. “I don’t know how he does it. He doesn’t talk trash. He tells you ‘Good job, good hit’ and gets up and walks back to the huddle.”
Don’t mistake Lumpkin’s lack of bile toward Tebow as a lack of competitiveness. He’d love nothing more than to end Kentucky’s 22-game losing streak to the Gators, the second longest winning streak by one opponent over another in the country.
“I think it is easier as a defensive lineman when a quarterback is talking trash because you’re like ‘OK, let’s go,”’ Lumpkin said. “But at the same time you still want to get him.”
Wanting to get Tebow and actually doing it, however, are two entirely different things.
The Wildcats (2-0) have played quarterbacks who are faster. They’ve played quarterbacks with better arms. They haven’t played anybody, however, like Tebow. He’s dominated the Wildcats during his two starts against them, throwing for four scores in a shootout win at Commonwealth Stadium two years ago and added four more scores – two rushing, two passing – in a 63-5 rout at the Swamp last year.
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Though Tebow appeared to be bottled up at times during a physical win 23-13 win over Tennessee last week, Brown isn’t ready to say the blueprint on how to slow Tebow down has finally been established. Tebow was held to 191 yards of total offense and fumbled deep in Tennessee territory in the fourth quarter. Yet where some saw progress, Brown saw the scoreboard.
“When you still give up those points, it’s not necessarily keeping him in check,” Brown said. “Even when he’s not picture perfect they make plays and that’s why they’re such a good team.”
Relying on Tebow so heavily against the Volunteers wasn’t exactly in the gameplan. But with several of its top offensive players slowed by illness, Tebow seemed to take it upon himself to take over.
“That’s our crutch, the Tim Tebow show,” said Florida coach Urban Meyer. “I’d rather not do that, pound and pound and pound him.”
If there’s one quarterback in the country that can take it, however, it’s the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder who has become an icon during his three-plus seasons in Gainesville.
“I knew he was big, but you actually see him and see the size of his legs and how big he is up top, you’re like ‘This is a big quarterback,”’ Lumpkin said. “You’re not used to seeing that … dude is huge.”
Tebow has been hailed as an innovator by some, but to Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, Tebow is a throwback to the single-wing quarterbacks that populated the game a half-century ago.
“He can kill you with his arm, he can kill you with his legs,” Brooks said. “He is extremely unique.”
Being able to hang with Tebow on the field is perhaps even more rare. It’s something Kentucky defensive end DeQuin Evans has thought about since signing with the Wildcats last spring as a junior college transfer from California.
“I’ve been dreaming about sacking Tebow on ESPN in front of everybody in the nation,” he said. “I want (everybody) to see what the Kentucky defense can bring to the board. That’s what we’re preparing for.”
A lot of other teams have had the same dream. There’s no secret formula on how to make it come true, Brown said. His advice to his players on Saturday will be simple.
“Hold on for dear life,” Brown said. “Grow nails, grab claws and just pray like the heck the troops are coming.”
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AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Gainesville, Fla., contributed to this report.
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