Metro

Tim Tebow’s plate-game heroics — eating four dishes in one meal

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(Christopher Sadowski)

Does this mean he had to say grace four times?

Quarterback Tim Tebow, who hungers to lead the Jets, put away no less than four heaping plates of food during a single meal at a New Jersey Italian restaurant recently.

The chiseled, 236-pound signal-caller first chowed down on an eggplant dish and veal Sorrentino entree while breaking bread with Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer at Guerriero’s Ristorante, a hot eatery on the main drag of South Street in Morristown.

But the two plates of Neapolitan fare couldn’t satisfy the former Florida Gator.

While Meyer, his old college coach, pitched Tebow on the idea of helping him recruit for the Buckeyes, the devout diner focused on the food, even picking at Meyer’s meal of papardelle after he had plowed through his own.

But that wasn’t enough, either. So Tebow called an audible.

“I said, ‘Are you still hungry?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’ ” recalled restaurant owner Jack Guerriero. “So he ordered a papardelle for himself — and a second Sorrentino.”

Each dish comes with enough veal, mushrooms and peppers to choke an Indianapolis Colt.

“He was really eating. His head was down in the bowl,” Guerriero recalled.

The restaurateur said he could understand Tebow’s need to carbo-load. He described the QB — reportedly one of Gang Green’s strongest players — as “huge, thick from back to front,” adding, “I wouldn’t want to try to tackle him.”

Knowing Tebow doesn’t like strangers to crowd him Guerriero, a big Jets fan, made sure the other diners stayed away.

“I told them, ‘Leave him alone,’ ” the owner said.

If Tebow gained any fat from the Italian cuisine during the preseason meal a few weeks ago, it certainly doesn’t show. He flashed his six-pack abs when he took off his shirt for a post-practice run.