When Ohio State Buckeyes defensive end Nick Bosa decided to withdraw from school to rehab a core muscle injury he suffered back in September, it cast a wave of doubt over Ohio State's national title hopes. Bosa is widely considered the No. 1 college prospect entering the 2019 NFL Draft and is one of college football's most dominant defensive players.
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There is no shortage of opinion arguing either side of Bosa's difficult choice, but Tim Tebow, an SEC football legend and Heisman Trophy winner, cited one thing in particular that anybody who's been around long enough can relate to. Now that Bosa is gone, won't he going to regret not giving his team a better chance to win it all?
During a passionate speech on ESPN's First Take, Tebow touched all bases with his argument. From an understanding to Bosa wanting to protect his body into the future to his loyalty towards Ohio State, the greatest quarterback in SEC history laid it all out on the table.
"This is a really tough situation because, yes he's got a severe injury and he would probably be out until early December healing from it. On one side if he waits and goes and trains he probably makes $20-30 million, and that's amazing. But at the same point, when you're 50-years-old and you look back, aren't you going to regret it a little bit to and say, 'My guys went to the [College Football] Playoff, and they played Alabama in the championship, and I could've been with them, but I was more worried about the money.'
"Listen, your family as already made however many million, you're probably still going to make that, and I get that you want to be safe and keep your body. I can see both sides, and I get where he's coming from. At the same point, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You've got a team that has a chance to win a championship. Your brother's [Joey Bosa] got one. You don't want to compete to go win a championship like your brother? For me, what I would do, I would wait and get healthy, and if my team was in the playoff, I'm going to compete with my team." — Tim Tebow on ESPN First Take
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From a player who won two national championships as the Florida Gators quarterback and defied all the critics odds to become a starting NFL quarterback with a winning record, Tebow remained as passionate as ever in his assessment of Bosa's decision.
Nick Bosa was a consensus five-star prospect hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Named a freshman All-American in 2016, and then a first-team All-American as a sophomore, Bosa terrorized Big Ten offenses to the tune of 29.0 tackles for a loss and 17.5 sacks is his 29 career games and was named the Big Ten's Defensive Lineman of the Year in 2017.
It's likely Bosa will be one of the first three to five players to come off the board in the 2019 NFL Draft regardless if he returned to Ohio State or not.
His older brother, Joey Bosa, was a two-time All-American at Ohio State and later became the third-overall pick by the Chargers during the 2016 NFL Draft. His father, John, was a first round NFL draft pick by the Miami Dolphins in 1987. There's no doubt Nick will be drafted very high and excel at the next level, and shutting the door on a potential return to OSU now just means that he's focused on the next step.
This decision isn't going to stain Nick Bosa's credibility or his perceived loyalty long term, but his choice really is difficult for a captain of Ohio State to walk away from his team to chase a professional career.
Tebow put it best: when Bosa is a grandfather, and he returns to Ohio State with his grandkids, what's he going to remember most? His career sack numbers, or the fact that his team had to chase a national championship without their best player on the field?
