About five years ago, inside Lake Howell High's gym, a Tim Tebow laboratory formed.
It produced just one product, but it was as close to a Tebow clone as you could get.
Tebow is Golden Boy I. And soon, Nick Calathes will be labeled Golden Boy II.
Though the pair grew up nearly 150 miles away from each other, the similarities are hard to ignore.
Both were big-time recruits. Tebow was rated as the best spread-offense quarterback in the country. Calathes was a two-time McDonald?s All-American and took Lake Howell to the state Final Four each season, winning the title his senior year.
Both have wanted to be Gators since they could say BWuerffel.C
Both came in with expectations of one day carrying their teams. Tebow has succeeded. So will Calathes.
Sure, you?ll be excited after Tebow wins the Heisman on Saturday (if they give it to Darren McFadden, those voters should be given the same treatment Tebow gave Geno Hayes), but your basketball team has a player in the same mold.
I?m not saying Calathes will put up stats equivalent to those of Tebow, but he?s going to have just as large an impact on his team as Tebow?s had on the football team - eventually.
Even Lake Howell teammate and UF forward Chandler Parsons admitted Calathes had a BGolden BoyC image about him.
BHe got all the spotlight,C Parsons said of his friend?s high school playing days. BHe deserves it. His game speaks for itself.C
After Monday night?s win against Jacksonville - where Calathes led the Gators with 24 points, nine assists and a disgusting six steals - he was his normal, Tebow-like, humble self during the postgame.
BI don?t let [the hype] get to my head. I just play the game the way it?s supposed to be played. I still have a lot to learn,C Calathes said. Uh. I mean Tebow said…Oh, um, no, that was Nick… I think.
OK, so Calathes said that, but the two have become interchangeable, really.
And whenever the BHC word was brought up around Tebow, he gave the same type of answer.
It would have driven the media crazy, too - if they didn?t mean it. We always hear players crediting their teammates and deferring the attention. Some mean it. Some don?t. Calathes and Tebow aren?t kidding around.
Maybe deep down they realize they?ll probably be good enough to play at the next level.
Who cares?
They?re the model of what a student athlete should be.
But, just like Tebow found out this season with three losses, life isn?t always Heisman Trophies and national titles.
While Calathes has scored 45 points the past two games, he shot just 3 of 9. He scored 7 points against Florida State, and in the next game he had almost as many turnovers (six) as he did points (7).
UF coach Billy Donovan criticized his freshman?s shot selection. Calathes called his play Bterrible.C
So, how does he respond?
He gently lofts alley-oop passes to Marreese Speights between defenders. He nails mid-range jumpers (this time it wasn?t forced) with Grant Hill-like fashion. The only thing Calathes can?t do well, according to Parsons, is dunk.
Sounds fairly Golden to me.
