Jeff Sims Preseason Love

BuzzThePlumber

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It isn't lost on me that if he shows the type of improvement this would require, we are going to have a good year.
I think most of his improvement needs to come not only from decision making but mental toughness. Just my take. The physical tools are unquestionably there. But he's got to steady himself and be consistent in making good decisions, even if something less than ideal happened on the previous play.
 

Jacketman99

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I think having a dedicated qb coach will work wonders for him. Chris Weinke's one job is to make Jeff Sims better. If we are honest, Jeff was a guy that should have been redshirted his first year. He was a great athlete but really needed time to learn how to play qb. Unfortunately, all of his training has been right before our eyes in game situations (he did not have a spring or summer prior to his freshman season). Hopefully having a dedicated qb coach can help expedite his development and realize his enormous potential.
 

jgtengineer

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I think having a dedicated qb coach will work wonders for him. Chris Weinke's one job is to make Jeff Sims better. If we are honest, Jeff was a guy that should have been redshirted his first year. He was a great athlete but really needed time to learn how to play qb. Unfortunately, all of his training has been right before our eyes in game situations (he did not have a spring or summer prior to his freshman season). Hopefully having a dedicated qb coach can help expedite his development and realize his enormous potential.

There is something to the old school rule of you don't play a freshman QB. Unfortunately talents like tebow and such made people do that but thats the exception not the rule.
 

JacketFan137

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There is something to the old school rule of you don't play a freshman QB. Unfortunately talents like tebow and such made people do that but thats the exception not the rule.
i think the circumstances of our team just made him the best available. at another school he would have been afforded a year or two on the bench and developed, but being the first real qb of “the transition” made it a winnable contest. just look where the rest of the qbs his freshman year ended up.

good news is no experience beats game experience and he still has 2-3 years left with us if he chooses
 

Buzztheirazz

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Agreed that as Sims goes will determine how this team goes. If he can play like Lamar Jackson we can be in almost any game. Which also depends on the OL. Hopefully they can gel early and stay healthy as well.
 

jgtengineer

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i think the circumstances of our team just made him the best available. at another school he would have been afforded a year or two on the bench and developed, but being the first real qb of “the transition” made it a winnable contest. just look where the rest of the qbs his freshman year ended up.

good news is no experience beats game experience and he still has 2-3 years left with us if he chooses

He might have been best available. But with how much we plundered the transfer portal we mayeb should have tried to get a QB. We planned on playing him from recruitment (its probably how they got him here.)
 

slugboy

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There is no other unit on our team that will dictate how well our season goes as much as this unit. We need them to find their feet early and stay healthy.
<this is me thinking about what you just said out loud>

The running game is ready to go if the OL gets on track.
The passing game--well, there were some issues with the receivers. We've seen flashes, and if they play like they're capable, then we have a very good WR unit. Some of that depends on the QB (prob Sims) playing better and getting the receivers feeling like the ball is coming their way.

The OL isn't quite the one missing ingredient on offense--QB and WR play could be better--but it's close enough to say that we're good OL play from being good on offense.

--
On defense, we could get a lot better if interior DL plays better, if we get better LB play, and if we get better secondary play. I think any of those units improving could make a difference, but we're 3 ingredients away on defense.

--
So, I think the OL getting well probably fixes more other things than any other unit improvement. I could say it's the biggest thing. I don't think the other units like interior DL, LB, and DBs are that far behind in how big a difference they could make.

I'd be massively impressed if our LB unit stepped up, though--and that could be huge. Same with our other defensive units.

I'll take any of the units improving and would love for ALL to improve.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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<this is me thinking about what you just said out loud>

The running game is ready to go if the OL gets on track.
The passing game--well, there were some issues with the receivers. We've seen flashes, and if they play like they're capable, then we have a very good WR unit. Some of that depends on the QB (prob Sims) playing better and getting the receivers feeling like the ball is coming their way.

The OL isn't quite the one missing ingredient on offense--QB and WR play could be better--but it's close enough to say that we're good OL play from being good on offense.

--
On defense, we could get a lot better if interior DL plays better, if we get better LB play, and if we get better secondary play. I think any of those units improving could make a difference, but we're 3 ingredients away on defense.

--
So, I think the OL getting well probably fixes more other things than any other unit improvement. I could say it's the biggest thing. I don't think the other units like interior DL, LB, and DBs are that far behind in how big a difference they could make.

I'd be massively impressed if our LB unit stepped up, though--and that could be huge. Same with our other defensive units.

I'll take any of the units improving and would love for ALL to improve.

Our defense last year wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination, but our O putting it back on the field all the time because it couldn't sustain drives and eat clock threw gas on the fire. Our OL has been the biggest hurdle in this transition. Putting an inexperienced and young QB still learning the playbook behind a makeshift line the last two years is a major reason we lost so many games. If, big if, the OL can become FBS average, then I think we can win 5-6 games fairly easy. If we become p5 average we are bowling for sure.
 

WreckinGT

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There is something to the old school rule of you don't play a freshman QB. Unfortunately talents like tebow and such made people do that but thats the exception not the rule.
This is disproven by several guys every year now. High school QBs are more prepared than ever to jump to the next level. It's obviously on a case by case basis depending on maturity and skill level though. Im pretty sure Clemson is going to have a true freshman QB leading them by mid season.
 
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