LSU DL Jean-Francois backs offs comments about hurting Tebow

Oct 7, 2008 - 10:23 PM BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- Louisiana State defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois made quite a stir with his comments about wanting to take Florida quarterback Tim Tebow out of Saturday's game.

His comments appeared in Tuesday's Orlando Sentinel, but Jean-Francois now says they were taken out of context.

"If we get a good shot on (Tebow), we're going to try our best to take him out of the game," Jean-Francois was quoted as saying in the Sentinel. "With his size and heart, it's hard to get a clean shot. If he does get hurt, there's a trained medical staff at Florida, so you can go to the training room on Sunday."

Jean-Francois and LSU issued a statement Tuesday, clarifying his thoughts.

"We never go into any football game trying to hurt a player from other team," Jean-Francois said. "My comments in regard to Florida quarterback Tim Tebow were misinterpreted and were intended to reflect the style of football we play at LSU.

"We have great respect for Tim as a player and a competitor. By taking him out of the game, I meant as a defense we are going to try to make him ineffective. I'm sorry my initial comments were interpreted another way."

Last season, LSU converted five straight fourth downs and defeated Florida, 28-24, on Jacob Hester's 2-yard touchdown run with 1:09 remaining.