Jim Lang

Jim Lang is a Connected anchor and NFL reporter for Sportsnet. Also check out Jim's website, www.jimlang.ca

Tim Tebow at Broncos mini-camp.

After an intergalactic NCAA career with the Florida Gators, Tim Tebow is receiving a real education in playing football at the NFL level. As of right now, Tebow is the third-string quarterback with the Denver Broncos. And after watching him struggle against the Broncos secondary in mini-camp, it's clear that Tebow still has a lot to learn before he's at the level where he can be a starter in the NFL.

While Kyle Orton might not be the quarterback a lot of a Broncos fans dream of, he's the best they have right now. In mini-camp Orton stood out as far more equipped to run the Broncos offence than either Tebow or backup Brady Quinn. Orton showed a lot of touch on his passes and did a solid job running the first team offence against the Broncos first-team defence. Quinn has good velocity on his passes, but is still learning the finer points of the Broncos offence.

While Tebow didn't fare too badly in straight passing drills, he really struggled when facing the Broncos defence. Now in Tebow's defence, the Broncos secondary features studs like Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins. However, in the NFL there a number of teams with players just as good as Bailey or Dawkins in their secondary.

Working under centre on one play, Tebow went play-action only to be picked off by safety Darcel McBath. On another play, Tebow was working under centre when he threw towards the sidelines and was almost picked off again. The one time Tebow made a good play was when the Broncos were in a red zone offence drill. Tebow scanned the secondary, didn't like what he saw then pulled the ball down and ran into the end zone. That drew a smile on the face of Josh McDaniels.

The entire Broncos secondary had a productive day at mini-camp. Offensively, the players who really stood out were running back Correll Buckhalter and wide receiver Eddie Royal.

Buckhalter seemed to be playing with an extra gear in practice and was exploding through the running lanes and made a few nice catches. Taking the place of the departed Brandon Marshall as the Broncos No. 1 receiver, Royal made numerous big-time catches during the 7-on-7 drills.

Despite his youth and reputation, Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels comes across as a guy you would want to play for. He has the confidence and the trust to let his assistants do their thing and speaks only when he feels it is necessary. The one thing McDaniels told me after practice was that Tebow still has to adjust to the speed of NFL safeties. A safety in the NFL can close on the ball and make a play far easier than 99 per cent of the safeties he would have faced while he was at Florida.

A couple times Tebow was getting frustrated at his lack of ability to make plays. The Broncos coaches calmly walked up to him and quietly pointed out what he was doing wrong. No yelling and screaming, just a lot of tutoring and teaching.

The yelling and screaming can wait for when the Broncos kick off their main training camp at the end of July. By that time, the Broncos hope that Tebow will have learned his hard lessons from mini-camp and be ready to push Brady Quinn for the No. 2 quarterback job. Tebow has the necessary size, attitude and work ethic to be a good quarterback in the NFL. Now it's just a matter of learning the Broncos playbook and learning what it takes to complete a pass against an NFL secondary.

If you are ever in Denver, I highly recommend this Mexican restaurant in the downtown core called Tamayo. Adam Schefter told me about it and it was amazing.