Jeff Sims Film Review

Dress2Jacket

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I swear, some people seem to think that a true freshman should throw something like 300 ypg on 70% completion and a 3-1 TD - INT ratio and rush for 100 ypg or else he just doesn't got it.

Lots of people here have seen a freshman QB who started off playing well for a freshman and didn't develop far from there. Sims is good for a freshman. It is up to a gazillion factors (work ethic, coaching, teammates, scheme, injuries, etc) to see if he develops into a really good or great QB. I'm sure everyone here is hoping he develops quickly.
 

Lee

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Lots of people here have seen a freshman QB who started off playing well for a freshman and didn't develop far from there. Sims is good for a freshman. It is up to a gazillion factors (work ethic, coaching, teammates, scheme, injuries, etc) to see if he develops into a really good or great QB. I'm sure everyone here is hoping he develops quickly.
If you think Sims didn’t develop throughout the year you must’ve stopped watching after the Clemson game.

He can’t make his WRs catch the ball. He can’t protect himself.

Things that noticeably improved as the season went on:

1. Touch
2. Deep ball
3. Ability to scramble for first downs
4. Pocket awareness

Biggest things (IMO) that need improvement:

1. looking off safeties and not staring down his primary
2. Defense recognition/play adjustment before the snap
3. Getting the ball out in time

Until our OL can consistency create a pocket, no qb will look great in our offense.
 

roedeo

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I hope you're right, but I'd lay huge odds against you. He's more talented than a lot of our previous QB's, but he has a long way to go (and plenty of time) to develop the feel for the game that Hamilton, Godsey, Dewberry, Jones, and others had.

@TruckStick I like your superior math skills! 😁

1607815932982.jpeg
 

UgaBlows

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If you think Sims didn’t develop throughout the year you must’ve stopped watching after the Clemson game.

He can’t make his WRs catch the ball. He can’t protect himself.

Things that noticeably improved as the season went on:

1. Touch
2. Deep ball
3. Ability to scramble for first downs
4. Pocket awareness

Biggest things (IMO) that need improvement:

1. looking off safeties and not staring down his primary
2. Defense recognition/play adjustment before the snap
3. Getting the ball out in time

Until our OL can consistency create a pocket, no qb will look great in our offense.
I would add- learn to avoid big hits on runs
 

Jacketman99

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If you cannot see the improvement in the oline from last season to this then you might need to go back and watch a game or 2 from last season. We have improved immensely in run blocking and some in pass blocking. However we are nowhere near where we need to be. CBK will look like a much better coach when he gets better talent to work with. There is a reason Johnson, who was a backup at UT was a day 1 starter for GT. In a perfect world Williams would not have been forced to start at tackle but that showed our lack of talent at the position.
As for the Dline we lost a lot of guys who played major snaps last year and ended up playing mostly freshmen in the last couple games. There were plays against NCST where we had 3 true freshmen playing together on the dline. We need to continue to bring in talent but I was impressed with how the young guys played. Jordan Domineck (rs sophomore) was also a revelation this year.
Im still somewhat on the fence about Sims. His athleticism is incredible and he makes great decisions while scrambling. He has plenty of issues as a pure passer. His accuracy isn't great. He stares down receivers far too often. He makes really questionable decisions at times. He doesn't throw a great deep ball. How high he can go will really depend on how well he develops in those areas. I hope Peery is given a legitimate chance coming in next year, if for no other reason than to push Sims to a higher level.
Oh, so you are saying he played like a freshman? Gotcha. Seriously, I give Sims a little slack. He did not have a spring and summer to improve upon these things. Most improvement is made in the offseason so I will withhold judgment until he has actually gone through a spring, summer, and fall practices.
 

Jacketman99

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I agree that Sims is going to be future and that CGC has hooked his wagon to Sims. I just don’t think Sims is the QB to lead us back to a winning program. I don’t think he can constantly make the throws needed to beat teams. I didn’t see much improvement in terms of accuracy. I saw too many throws that the WR couldn’t even get a finger on the ball. A lot of throws that were caught were thrown short, wrong shoulder, or WR had to make a really good catch. I’m concerned that Norvell might have made the right call in pulling the offer. Really hope I’m wrong, but I think we will have an answer by 2022.
I do not understand how you make these conclusions about a true freshman qb. People were saying the exact same things about Hamilton after his first season. If he had multiple seasons with no improvement i could understand. However I think he did OK for a true freshman with little to no offseason and playing behind a terrible oline.
 

Dress2Jacket

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I do not understand how you make these conclusions about a true freshman qb. People were saying the exact same things about Hamilton after his first season. If he had multiple seasons with no improvement i could understand. However I think he did OK for a true freshman with little to no offseason and playing behind a terrible oline.
I'll one up you and say he did better than OK. But I'll agree that it is too early to draw any conclusions. Next fall, I really want to see improvement over where he is now. I'm assuming we'll have spring practice, even if it is relatively late.
 

SWATlien

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I do not understand how you make these conclusions about a true freshman qb. People were saying the exact same things about Hamilton after his first season. If he had multiple seasons with no improvement i could understand. However I think he did OK for a true freshman with little to no offseason and playing behind a terrible oline.

Its ridiculous.
 

lv20gt

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Here is Sims' #s compared to some other freshman QBs we've had.

Sims - 188 pypg on 55% passing for 7.3 per attempt, 13-13 TD/INT (1.3 each per game), 49 rypg, 4.1 ypc, 6 TDs (.6 per game).
Ball - 153 pypg on 52% passing for 5.7 per attempt, 10-11 TD/INT (.77 td per game and .85 int per game) 29.5 rypg, 2.8 ypc, 3 TDs (.23 per game)
Joe Ham - 134 pypg on 57% passing for 7.1 per attempt, 7-13 TD/INT (.7/1.3 per game), 25 rypg, 2.6 ypc, 3 TD (.3 per game).
Shawn Jones - 159 pypg on 52.4% passing for 6.5 per attempt, 12 TD/13 INT (1.1/1.2 per game) 30 rypg, 2.9 ypc, 3 TDs (.27 per game)

Here are some extras.

Vince young as a redshirt sophomore - 154 pypg on 59% passing for 7.4 per attempt. 12/11 TD/INT, 90 rypg, 6.5 ypc, 14 TD. (He started second string as a redshirt freshman and split time with the other guy after midway through so it would be hard to compare)
Russell Wilson - 177 pypg on 55% passing 7.1 per attempt, 17TD/1 INT, 35 rypg, 3.3 ypc, 4TDs (.36 per game).
Matt Barkley - 227 pypg on 60% for 7.8 ypa, 15TD - 14 INT negative rush yards.

Obviously difference situations means you can't make any drastic claims, but the point is a lot of people don't seem to have a good frame of reference for judging a true freshman QB.

BTW, for those who argue you can't improve your accuracy. Wilson improved his nearly 20% by the time he was a senior (4% while at NCSU). Young improved his nearly 7 points. Jones improved his nearly 6 points his sophomore year. Joe Ham improved his by nearly 7 points as a sophomore. Barkley improved by nearly 10% at one point. Reggie got worse. There are numerous examples of QBs improving their completion %.

Oh, and for the special kind of 'you have to be kidding me take'. Here is FSU's best QB Jordan Travis.

142 pypg (not including the first two games where he didn't really play much), 52.2 %, 4 TDs-5 INT, 7.6 ypa, 58.6 rypg, 5.5 ypc, 6 TDs. That is as a redshirt sophomore.

There isn't really an argument that he was right to cut Sims loose, even if you are just going by who would be better this year.

Sims obviously still needs to improve. Like every true freshman does. That isn't something to hold against him. And the notion of their being certain aspects that just can't be improved is straight up bunk.
 

WreckinGT

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Oh, so you are saying he played like a freshman? Gotcha. Seriously, I give Sims a little slack. He did not have a spring and summer to improve upon these things. Most improvement is made in the offseason so I will withhold judgment until he has actually gone through a spring, summer, and fall practices.
Not every true freshman comes in and just struggles immediately. Some hit the ground running. See Sam Howell and Jayden Daniels from last year for examples. That doesn't mean Sims won't develop over time. We will see. I am eager to see what he can do with a full off season to work on his issues.
 

JacketOff

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Not every true freshman comes in and just struggles immediately. Some hit the ground running. See Sam Howell and Jayden Daniels from last year for examples. That doesn't mean Sims won't develop over time. We will see. I am eager to see what he can do with a full off season to work on his issues.
How many true freshmen came in this year and “hit the ground running”? Hint, there are none Last year is irrelevant when talking about true freshmen. The circumstances involving true freshmen this year are unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the modern history of college football.

Now I’m sure you’ll point to Max Johson’s game against Florida, and while he did play well, it wasn’t necessarily a great performance. Also keep in mind that the OL he was playing behind, and the weapons he had at his disposal are much better than what Sims has played with all year. Johnson threw 36 passes for 239 yards against Florida. In the games that Sims attempted 30+ passes he threw for 277, 244, and 238. The one area that Johnson has clearly been better than Sims is protecting the football. But again, when you have better pieces around you, it’s a lot easier to do that. Also, Sims is a much better runner than Johnson is.

Sims wasn’t perfect this year, but he did get a lot better as the year went on. He’s got plenty of tools and potential to be a top tier QB. Tech has to do a better job of protecting him though. With an off-season to work on cleaning his game up, and with Peery coming in early, Sims is going to take a massive jump in productivity next year, given the OL doesn’t take a step back.
 

WreckinGT

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Here is Sims' #s compared to some other freshman QBs we've had.

Sims - 188 pypg on 55% passing for 7.3 per attempt, 13-13 TD/INT (1.3 each per game), 49 rypg, 4.1 ypc, 6 TDs (.6 per game).
Ball - 153 pypg on 52% passing for 5.7 per attempt, 10-11 TD/INT (.77 td per game and .85 int per game) 29.5 rypg, 2.8 ypc, 3 TDs (.23 per game)
Joe Ham - 134 pypg on 57% passing for 7.1 per attempt, 7-13 TD/INT (.7/1.3 per game), 25 rypg, 2.6 ypc, 3 TD (.3 per game).
Shawn Jones - 159 pypg on 52.4% passing for 6.5 per attempt, 12 TD/13 INT (1.1/1.2 per game) 30 rypg, 2.9 ypc, 3 TDs (.27 per game)

Here are some extras.

Vince young as a redshirt sophomore - 154 pypg on 59% passing for 7.4 per attempt. 12/11 TD/INT, 90 rypg, 6.5 ypc, 14 TD. (He started second string as a redshirt freshman and split time with the other guy after midway through so it would be hard to compare)
Russell Wilson - 177 pypg on 55% passing 7.1 per attempt, 17TD/1 INT, 35 rypg, 3.3 ypc, 4TDs (.36 per game).
Matt Barkley - 227 pypg on 60% for 7.8 ypa, 15TD - 14 INT negative rush yards.

Obviously difference situations means you can't make any drastic claims, but the point is a lot of people don't seem to have a good frame of reference for judging a true freshman QB.

BTW, for those who argue you can't improve your accuracy. Wilson improved his nearly 20% by the time he was a senior (4% while at NCSU). Young improved his nearly 7 points. Jones improved his nearly 6 points his sophomore year. Joe Ham improved his by nearly 7 points as a sophomore. Barkley improved by nearly 10% at one point. Reggie got worse. There are numerous examples of QBs improving their completion %.

Oh, and for the special kind of 'you have to be kidding me take'. Here is FSU's best QB Jordan Travis.

142 pypg (not including the first two games where he didn't really play much), 52.2 %, 4 TDs-5 INT, 7.6 ypa, 58.6 rypg, 5.5 ypc, 6 TDs. That is as a redshirt sophomore.

There isn't really an argument that he was right to cut Sims loose, even if you are just going by who would be better this year.

Sims obviously still needs to improve. Like every true freshman does. That isn't something to hold against him. And the notion of their being certain aspects that just can't be improved is straight up bunk.
Jordan Travis was probably the 4th string QB coming into the season. FSU certainly didn't choose him over Sims. They basically chose Purdy over Sims and he couldn't stay healthy.
 

Buzztheirazz

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Sims has a huge ceiling. As the OL gets better he will be even more of a threat.

One thing I think he needs to improve on (though he’s better than anyone we’ve had in a long time) is getting the ball out on time. The first pick was a good example of that.
ver.

I think he will continue to improve in this area. He’s still very green. I’m really excited to see how much he progresses over the offseason!
One of the analysts on the game the other day said timing wasn’t there yet but will come. he double clutched a pass and missed the window

Although I did see him throw one to Camp before he came out of his break this last game....

He throws a pretty ball given time and sits in the pocket pretty comfortably. He also is elusive when things break down and a big strider when he does run. In 2 years with a solid OL he’s going to be putting up eye popping numbers IMO.
 
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WreckinGT

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How many true freshmen came in this year and “hit the ground running”? Hint, there are none Last year is irrelevant when talking about true freshmen. The circumstances involving true freshmen this year are unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the modern history of college football.

Now I’m sure you’ll point to Max Johson’s game against Florida, and while he did play well, it wasn’t necessarily a great performance. Also keep in mind that the OL he was playing behind, and the weapons he had at his disposal are much better than what Sims has played with all year. Johnson threw 36 passes for 239 yards against Florida. In the games that Sims attempted 30+ passes he threw for 277, 244, and 238. The one area that Johnson has clearly been better than Sims is protecting the football. But again, when you have better pieces around you, it’s a lot easier to do that. Also, Sims is a much better runner than Johnson is.

Sims wasn’t perfect this year, but he did get a lot better as the year went on. He’s got plenty of tools and potential to be a top tier QB. Tech has to do a better job of protecting him though. With an off-season to work on cleaning his game up, and with Peery coming in early, Sims is going to take a massive jump in productivity next year, given the OL doesn’t take a step back.
Wells has been pretty good at Marshall, Seals at Vandy has actually been decent even though his team is horrible, you mentioned Johnson who has looked decent in his limited play time, Uiagalelei has looked great in the games he has started. de Laura at Wazzu is off to a pretty good start. Those are some examples. All of those guys are over 60% passing. Some well over. Sims ended around 55%. There is no set in stone rule that true freshmen have to be inaccurate and make bad decisions.
 

JacketOff

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Wells has been pretty good at Marshall, Seals at Vandy has actually been decent even though his team is horrible, you mentioned Johnson who has looked decent in his limited play time, Uiagalelei has looked great in the games he has started. de Laura at Wazzu is off to a pretty good start. Those are some examples. All of those guys are over 60% passing. Some well over. Sims ended around 55%. There is no set in stone rule that true freshmen have to be inaccurate and make bad decisions.
Wells isn’t a true freshman, so he doesn’t matter here.

Seals has 12TDs to 10INTs compared to Sims’ 13 & 13. Seals has also accounted for -52 (yes, that’s negative 52) rushing yards on the year, compared to Sims’ 492. Seals has a slightly higher passer rating at 128 compared to Sims’ 122. Both guys played on teams with pretty equivalent tools, and Sims has been at least his equal, and probably better.

Johnson has looked decent yes, that much I explained in my previous post. But he hasn’t looked noticeably better than Sims when you actually look at the numbers and what’s around each guy, which I also explained in my previous post.

de Laura has played in 3 games and has 4 TDs to 3 INTs. His passer rating is 124. He has 23 carries for 37 yards. Good for a 1.6 YPC compared to Sims’ 4.1. Once again. There’s nothing there that makes him better than Sims.

Uiagalelei is the exception. He was also the #1 QB in the country, and would be starting for every school in the country outside of Clemson, Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, and maybe North Carolina. As of now he’s destined to be a 1st round pick. Comparing him to Sims is like comparing Tom Brady to Taysom Hill.

The point is that there are no true freshman QBs outside of Uiagalelei that have stood out as being a top QB in the country. The simple explanation for that is none of them got spring or summer practice to get reps at D1 speed.

Your argument is that Sims is more inaccurate than other freshman QBs, which statistically is true. But as the year went on Sims improved. His turnover numbers went way down, and he started making much better decisions with the ball. He is also a much bigger running threat than any of the guys you brought up, which means he doesn’t necessarily have to be as accurate because he brings a different facet to the game. All I’m saying is that there are no other true freshman QBs that you could’ve plugged in Sims’ spot and seen much different results. Would you take a 60% completion rate over a 55% if it meant losing basically all of the running threat? I wouldn’t.
 

GT_B

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Sims situation is just such a tough one to judge right now. BecUse our OL play, despite being a little better this year, is still so inconsistent. Some games we actually created a pocket a few times and others Jeff was running for his life majority of the game. So it’s really hard to judge how good Sims could be until he has consistent O-Line play in front of him.

Looking forward, i think sims has all the tools to be a really good one for us, but I’m not 100% sold on him yet. There’s just something about him I don’t quite see the future for us yet, I think it’s the fact he still misses quite a few throws at times.

sam Howell is a good comparison to a guy coming in as a true freshmen and playing really well. Howell also is really accurate on deep balls, that’s the biggest difference you can see vs Sims. Howell makes a lot of deep throws right on the money, Sims tends to under or overthrow Majority of his deep passes.
 

Technut1990

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Sims has a huge ceiling. As the OL gets better he will be even more of a threat.

One thing I think he needs to improve on (though he’s better than anyone we’ve had in a long time) is getting the ball out on time. The first pick was a good example of that.

View attachment 9587
View attachment 9588
I admit, I don’t know what his first read was, but if he lets the ball go to the inside of the field in the first picture, it’s a big play or more. The 2nd picture is when he released it. As you can see, the WR still looks open but this gives the safety (who made a nice play) time to get over.

I think he will continue to improve in this area. He’s still very green. I’m really excited to see how much he progresses over the offseason!

it does look like he threw the ball late but in looking at your post I see the route trees are out of alignment for the play. He has an open throw on the hash however the WR to the top looks like he’s running a route that’s something between a cross and a post. Either way he’s bringing his cover into the throwing lane on the seam route. Had that WR ran an out or simply a fly the safety isn’t anywhere around the hash WR and it’s a 80 yard TD rather than a pick.
 
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