Epps: Tebow-less Tide go 12-0 with Wilson

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Maybe John Parker Wilson wouldn’t be leaning against a wall on the second floor of the Mal Moore Athletic Complex on Monday, surrounded by cameras and reporters and notebooks, if Dec. 13, 2005, turned out the way Florida coach Urban Meyer feared.

Maybe Alabama’s Nick Saban would be coaching on a different campus, explaining why freshmen and assistants are unavailable to the media and berating a reporter for asking a question twice.

Maybe no one, if Tim Tebow committed to Alabama instead of Florida, would care what Wilson had to say five days before playing in the SEC championship game.

Wilson never really considered the possibility, and why should he care? His career is ending splendidly. When no one paid attention to the quarterback at Alabama in the preseason All-SEC lists, Wilson shrugged and said to wait until the end of the season.

Well, here we are, and Wilson is the quarterback of a 12-0 team.

So you can understand his annoyance at the Tebow questions Monday. Imagine someone telling you about the guy who almost accepted your job, a guy who is revered at his current position. It would be awkward, and Wilson acted no differently.

Did he meet or talk to Tebow?

“Not really,” he said.

Did he follow Tebow’s recruiting?

“Not really,” he said.

Does he like answering these Tebow questions?

“Yeah, I love them,” Wilson said, and turned his head, eager for the subject to change.

Tebow’s decision created a butterfly effect that continues to impact the entire league as Saban rips through the SEC. Mike Shula, who spent hours with Tebow the day before the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner made his college choice, was fired after Alabama finished 6-6 in 2006. The same year, Tebow helped Florida win a national championship.

“It really was a tough decision. I really liked Coach Shula,” Tebow said. “I thought he was a great coach, and I loved the passion that Alabama had for football, the passion the fans had and just everything. I thought it was a great town, and I really enjoyed it there. But in the end, I loved Coach Meyer, I just wanted to be here and I couldn’t pass it up.”

Meyer said, for most of the process, he was certain Tebow would pick Alabama. Meyer sad he was boarding a plane during a recruiting trip, shivering in the biting Pennsylvania cold, trying to convince himself that Florida would be fine without Tebow.

His co-defensive coordinator at the time, Greg Mattison, did not agree. Mattison told him, according to Meyer, that failing to get Tebow would set the program back 10 years.

“The one thing that Coach Shula did, he had a great relationship and was a relationship-type person,” Meyer said. “Tim had his mind set for a while there to go to Alabama. I thought our guys did a good job in trying to pull that one back, because he’s a Florida guy. But I was very concerned.”

Tebow picked Florida, Alabama fired Shula, Saban took over, Wilson remained the quarterback and Alabama is 12-0. Quick question for Alabama fans, who were understandably upset when Tebow picked Florida: Would you go back and change the events of Dec. 13, 2005?

I would hope not. Alabama is perfect this season. The dizzying ride from 7-6 to 12-0 and No. 1 in the country has been unforgettable. Quarterbacks are measured by victories, and Wilson has one more than Tebow this year.

“I think the best legacy you could create is how you led your team and how much success your team had, so from that standpoint, there’s only (three) other teams that have won 12 games here,” Saban said. “That should be John Parker’s legacy. That’s what I would like his legacy to be.”

Plus, Wilson accomplished a feat — a real important one around here — that Tebow could not in his two tries.

He beat Auburn.