MOBILE, Ala. — NFL scouts were loving Tim Tebow, the football player, this week at the Senior Bowl.

Many of them, however, were not loving Tim Tebow, the quarterback.

It was obvious after a week of practices that the University of Florida star has a long way

to go to convince most NFL teams he is going to succeed at the pro level.

"I would never sell him short because he's a winner," said one NFC scout who did not want

to be named. "But he's going to take a long time to develop, a lot of work to make it —

if he ever makes it."

That was the majority opinion of scouts from a dozen teams polled during the week.

Tebow gets a chance to raise his draft stock today when he quarterbacks the South team in

the Senior Bowl.

Tebow compiled one of the greatest — maybe the greatest — college careers ever

over the past four years. He won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore. He helped Florida win two

national championships. His 57 career rushing touchdowns broke Herschel Walker's 27-year-old

Southeastern Conference record. He's the only major college player ever to both rush and throw

for more than 20 touchdowns in a single season.

His unorthodox mechanics, however, make scouts wary of how long it may take him to adjust to

the NFL. His throwing motion has a long wind-up. He tends to drop the ball down too low before

he delivers. His balls in college tended to come in too high. Even though he completed 67

percent of his passes in Florida's prolific offense, his accuracy needs to improve in the NFL,

where the window for hitting receivers is so much smaller than in college.

"I'd say he's a tough evaluation," said an AFC personnel director. "You have to love his

makeup. But it's going to be a risk to take him high in the draft. He's a project."

Perhaps the boldest statement came from ESPN analyst Todd McShay.

"He can't play quarterback in the NFL, I'm convinced of it," McShay said. "From his delivery

to his footwork to his accuracy, you have to absolutely strip him down and build him back up.

And it's too late."

Others say that assessment is far too rash. Tebow has been working on his mechanics with

former NFL quarterback Zeke Bratkowski and quarterback guru Marc Trestman, coach of the CFL's

Montreal Alouettes.

"I've always said there is no formula for who's going to make it," Trestman said at a South

practice this week. "Who knew that Tom Brady was going to make it as the 199th pick? Kurt

Warner was bagging groceries one year and in the NFL the next. There were guys who thought

Ryan Leaf was going to be better than Peyton Manning. So, who knows?

Trestman pointed out that Tebow "played four years in the SEC under the most pressured

situations. There are so many intangibles that go into playing the position and playing in the

chaos and the stress and the speed of this league. But this kid has played around speed his

whole career."

Former NFL coaches Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden say Tebow will succeed.

Gruden suggests he could be the ultimate "wildcat" quarterback, a dynamic passer and

runner.

Jets coach Rex Ryan, who also was in Mobile, agreed.

"I know all I need to know about the kid. He's a winner," Ryan said. "Obviously, he's a

great competitor. He doesn't have to prove anything here. The fact he's out here is great.

He's a winner. That's what you want as the No. 1 thing as a quarterback, so I think he's going

to have a great future."

Just the fact Tebow came to Mobile and did not duck the criticism impressed numerous

scouts.

"I give the kid credit for coming out here because he didn't have to," said Mike Mayock,

draft analyst for the NFL Network. "He could have spent three months working on the mechanical

issues he has and then had a private pro day a week before the draft to unveil a new motion at

that point. The fact that he chose to compete in this event shows me everything I need to know

about the kid as a competitor."

Nevertheless, the Senior Bowl practices did not change the majority of scouts' minds that

he needs a lot of work. He dropped several snaps from center on Monday, and again on

Wednesday. (He operated out of the shotgun at Florida.) He threw some nice deep passes on

Tuesday and Wednesday. But his delivery is not quick, and his passes are as crisp as one would

like in a high first-round pick.

"Does he have mechanical issues and accuracy issues? Yes, he does," Mayock said. "Most teams

will tell you that if you look at him just as a guy in a vacuum and put a tape on, he's

probably a third-round quarterback. However, he's not in a vacuum. He's Tim Tebow. He's a

leader. He's got more intangibles than maybe any quarterback I've ever seen."

Mayock said Tebow will work on his delivery: "He'll shorten it up a little bit by draft day.

Then a team is going to have to say how high do we want to go on a kid that's a little bit of

a projection but does everything right from an intangible perspective? And are we willing to

change our offense a little bit to accommodate him?"

Tebow was taking all the analysis in stride.

"I look at myself as a pretty self-motivated person, so I don't really need to listen to all

the critics," he said. "But if I need a little extra motivation, they're all there. Maybe just

throw them on the top to get a little extra motivation."