Sid Hartman: Tebow, Harvin found stardom together

Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin and Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow will be playing in a game together for the first time since January 8, 2009. The last time they played on the same field they were teammates, leading the Florida Gators to a 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in the BCS national championship game. That game capped off one of the great offensive partnerships in college football history.Harvin left Florida following that victory and Tebow remained for one more season.

Tebow, who is 5-1 this season as a starter with Denver, played against the Vikings in the 2010 preseason, but Harvin didn't appear in that game.

The two players began their career together as part of then-Florida coach Urban Meyer's 2006 recruiting class and both were five-star athletes coming out of high school, with Harvin being the No. 1-ranked player in the country by Rivals.com and Tebow being ranked as the No. 1 overall quarterback.

They proceeded to go 35-6 over three seasons, winning national championships in 2006 and 2008 with identical 13-1 records.

They remain the two greatest dual-threat players to ever play at Florida, and both hold the career records for rushing yardage at their respective positions. Harvin's 1,852 career rushing yards are the most by a Florida wide receiver by nearly 1,500 yards. Tebow's 2,947 rushing yards as a Gators quarterback are 2,000 more than the second-place total.

How instrumental were they to the teams success? They accounted for six of the eight touchdowns in their two national championship victories.

As freshmen in their first title victory, 41-14 over Ohio State in January 2007, Harvin caught nine passes for 60 yards and rushed five times for 22 yards and a touchdown. Tebow, playing behind Chris Leak, completed his only pass for a 1-yard touchdown but ran 10 times for 39 yards and another score.

Praised Harvin In 2008, Tebow talked to the Orlando Sentinel about how unique Harvin's ability as a dual-threat player was, and how it was both a blessing and a challenge to use him effectively, something that has continued with the Vikings.

"With a guy like Percy Harvin, when you say he has three touches or five touches in a game, you want to increase that to eight and 10 touches a game, but also you don't want everybody to be keying on him and him double-covered and still try to force him the ball," Tebow said at the time. "He's probably the most explosive player in college football. He's probably one of the most explosive players in football period."

Harvin added to that: "I'm whatever the team needs me to play -- receiver, running back, it doesn't matter."

That attitude has remained with Harvin throughout his tenure with the Vikings where he remains a threat at running back, wide receiver and kick returner.

When Harvin left Florida after 2008, he was the only Football Bowl Subdivision receiver in more than 20 years to total over 1,500 rushing yards and 1,500 wide receiving yards in only three seasons.

Tebow, of course, became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy and left as Florida's all-time leader in yardage with 12,232 on 9,285 passing yards and 2,947 rushing yards.

There's no doubt that the two helped create one of the great dynasties in college football. In 2010, Sports Illustrated named Tebow and Harvin's 2006 recruiting class as the sixth greatest in the history of college football and the best since Nebraska's 1992 class.

Their on-field reunion should be a special one.

U takes positive attitude The Gophers men's basketball team has now won two games with injured Trevor Mbakwe on the sidelines. While the loss of the preseason All-Big Ten player is serious, coach Tubby Smith said it will force the team to play a different style of basketball.

"With Trevor in the lineup, he had two and three guys trying to guard him and we would force passes into him and many times the result was a turnover," Smith said. "... Now, we can do more things with Elliott Eliason and Rodney Williams very effective offensively."

The 6-11 Eliason has replaced Mbakwe as a rebounding force, with 16 in the two victories.

And junior college transfer Julian Welch has scored 15 and 16 points in the two games. Without depending on Mbakwe to be the big scorer, Welch will have more opportunity to shoot going forward.

A starting five of Eliason, Williams, Austin Hollins, Andre Hollins and Welch has been very effective when they are on the floor together at the end of games, protecting a lead better than the Gophers have in the past.

The big mystery is how Ralph Simpson III, who hasn't played the past two games, will fit into this new style. It will be an adjustment, and no doubt Smith hopes he fits in.

• Twins reliever Jose Mijares has begun pitching for the Aragua Tigers in the Venezuelan Winter League. Also playing for Aragua is former Twins catcher Wilson Ramos, who has resumed playing following his kidnapping in November. Ramos went 2-for-5 and hit his first home run of the winter league season in a 11-6 victory Thursday.

• Former Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson had his best day as a starter for the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday. He posted a 137 quarterback rating, going 13-for-16 for 190 yards with a touchdown as the Seahawks defeated the Eagles 31-14.

• Jay Pivec, the legendary basketball coach who spent 20 seasons at Minneapolis Community and Technical College before its athletics program was disbanded, is having a nice start to his first season with Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount. The Blue Knights are off to a 5-2 start.

• It will be interesting to see if former Orono and Wisconsin standout Jon Leuer returns to the Milwaukee Bucks or keeps playing professionally in Germany now that the NBA lockout is over. The second-round pick is averaging 13.4 points for the Fraport Skyliners and leads the team with 7.9 rebounds and 31.6 minutes per game. The Bucks would retain contract rights to Leuer even if he remained in Germany this season.