Former Florida QB Tim Tebow achieved it all in college football. A Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, two national championships, and a legacy that remains unmatched. But that legacy can make you wonder just what he would have been worth in the NIL era, when we see QBs getting paid $3-4 million a year. He was asked about that, and the former Gator had a simple answer rooted in being a good teammate.

“Honestly, I can be honest and say, ‘Really, never,'” Tebow said on the June 3 episode of the Almost Athletes with Dude Perfect podcast when asked if he’s ever thought about his NIL value. “People ask me. I think for a few reasons. One, you want to live in the present and be there. And I love the time I had, the teammates. I love those guys so much. And I also really believe it would have been a lot harder to have a team bond the way we did if that was the case.”

Urban Meyer’s Florida teams were stacked on both sides of the ball. On the defense, the Gators had the likes of LB Brandon Spikes, CB Joe Haden, and DE Carlos Dunlap. Tebow also had his weapons on the offense in RB Percy Harvin, TE Aaron Hernandez, and the Pouncey twins. But more importantly, it was their sticking together that helped the team succeed, something that is not always possible today.

In the current era, one downside of a stacked roster is that, once you achieve success or a player breaks through, rival programs begin trying to poach them. Every year, thousands of players enter the portal, and some of them do so because they have been promised better money.

Just this offseason, Colorado OT Jordan Seaton moved to LSU for a reported deal of around $4 million. Lane Kiffin spent an even larger sum to recruit Sam Leavitt from Arizona State. As per Tebow, the same would have happened to his Gators.

“I think there would have been people that would have come in, and like one of the special things was our ’06 class that came in together. So many of us left together,” Tebow said. “Percy left the year before, as he should have, because he was a first-round pick, and he was one of the greatest players ever seen in my life. But then so many of us stayed and finished together.

“I think a lot of times what makes a team really special isn’t that you put on the same jersey. I think what makes the same team is when you have shared suffering, shared vision, and you’re willing to do that together, to go through a grind, the suffering together.”

And the Gators did suffer together at times. For instance, Meyer’s Florida lost to an unranked Ole Miss at the start of the 2008 season. The unexpected defeat had the whole team shaken. In his post-game press conference, Tebow broke into a speech that is still etched in the memories of every Florida fan. The QB promised the fans that the team would learn from the loss and would play harder than every other team for the rest of the season. The Gators went on to win the national championship that year.

Tim Tebow and his relationship with the Florida Gators squad

One brotherly bond seen in the 2006 Gators squad, still keeping up their banter, is between Tebow and Brandon Spikes. The QB and former linebacker met in 2006 and, two decades later, they are still the same with each other, often seen pulling each other’s leg. Tebow was a soft-spoken, religious QB, while Spikes was a rowdy trash-talker.

“It was more so those piercing eyes,” Spikes said about his QB last year. “I see that look in his eye. That’s all, you know, the words that need to be said. I knew he was ready every time, and that was one of the reasons. I followed him here to Gainesville, and it was definitely one of the best decisions of my life. My brother forever, man, for real. He is. He’s the best.”

Post his NFL career, Spikes returned to Gainesville as a player-development staff member. However, he left the Gators last month as part of a restructuring. On the other hand, Tim Tebow remains busy with his foundation, in addition to his successful career as a broadcaster.