Just watching Nebraska . . .

WreckinGT

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But are these other quarterbacks being asked to carry the whole team on their backs?
Not in all cases no. Sims certainly had other issues to deal with (OL, no Spring, etc) I just don’t inherently agree with the notion that a true freshman QB absolutely has to struggle and be a turnover machine simply because he is a true freshman. There are too many guys who have proven that wrong.
 

JacketOff

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Not in all cases no. Sims certainly had other issues to deal with (OL, no Spring, etc) I just don’t inherently agree with the notion that a true freshman QB absolutely has to struggle and be a turnover machine simply because he is a true freshman. There are too many guys who have proven that wrong.
“Too many guys” is still an incredibly small amount of true freshman QBs who the most highly sought after, elite recruits in the country. Jeff has the potential to be a great QB, and he was a 4-star who was pretty highly recruited, but not to the level guys like Lawrence, Howell, Fromm, Eason, Uiagalelei, etc. were. Considering he didn’t even have a summer camp and he was contending with a bad OL and a below average WR core judging him as a “turnover machine” is unfair. And comparing him to the most elite QBs in the country on way better teams is even more unfair.
 

Mattmc10

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Not in all cases no. Sims certainly had other issues to deal with (OL, no Spring, etc) I just don’t inherently agree with the notion that a true freshman QB absolutely has to struggle and be a turnover machine simply because he is a true freshman. There are too many guys who have proven that wrong.
I’ll say the list of did something amazing to looked like a freshman is probably 1/20. Lawerence is a generational talent. If you replace Fromm with Sims that ga teams ends up in the same place. Howell is the only guy who is even a realistic comparison of situations to Sims. Howell had a full spring and was a freshman in a non covid year. As people have said Sims got better after first 3 games.

The argument at this point has become - I’m not sure Sims is a top 5 NFL draft pick or he didn’t inherit a playoff contending team. These comparisons are bananas.
 

tomknight

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Not in all cases no. Sims certainly had other issues to deal with (OL, no Spring, etc) I just don’t inherently agree with the notion that a true freshman QB absolutely has to struggle and be a turnover machine simply because he is a true freshman. There are too many guys who have proven that wrong.
Did all those others prove that in the same circumstance as we were in last year, or did they walk into well established programs with experienced players in the system all around them?

Come on man.
 

ncjacket79

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. . . and they remind me a lot of us. Just seem to beat themselves with mistakes and just a plain inability to rise to the occassion. I know they have a proud program and must be to the point of exhaustion with Coach Frost and his inability to get the program moving in the right direction. It should be working for them but it's not. Their biggest problem is they have a quarterback who looks the part but when you have to have it, he just does not get it done. We are in a similar predicament. Jeff is a great athlete and capable of breaking a big play anytime but in reality he has not demonstrated he can consistently be effective as a passer and a playmaker. I am hoping he makes a big leap this season for he is clearly the best option we have right now. The bottomline is, we can not build around him until he proves he is a winner and a difference maker. The Nebraska QB, Martinez, is what I call a Coach killer. I hope Sims doesn't prove to be the same.

Go Tech!
Sorry I think this is a ridiculous comparison.
 

Techster

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Something I wrote in another thread:

Player comparison time. Freshmen year stats:

Player 1 (11 Games):

57.4% completion. 1342 passing yards. 7 TDs passing. 13 Ints. 243 yards rushing. 3 TDs rushing.

Player 2 (10 games):

54.9% completion. 1881 passing yards. 13 TDs passing. 13 Ints. 492 yards rushing. 6 TDs rushing.

Player 1 is Joe Hamilton. Player 2 is Jeff Sims.

Keep in mind, Joe Hamilton also split some snaps with other QBs his freshmen year. Either way, you can see that Jeff Sims has the potential to be a star for us.

Something I would also like to point out: Joe Hamilton was a redshirt freshmen. Jeff Sims was a true freshmen that didn't have the benefit of a full camp due to Covid. How impressive are his numbers now given the Joe Ham comparison?

I hope that Joe Hamilton didn't turn out to be a coach killer either...that guy probably didn't turn out to do much after such a bad freshmen year...
 

WreckinGT

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Did all those others prove that in the same circumstance as we were in last year, or did they walk into well established programs with experienced players in the system all around them?

Come on man.
Some weren't in great situations. Kedon Slovis (a 3 star recruit with a mediocre offer sheet) had to start for USC because JT Daniels got injured. USC was 5-7 the prior year and their coach was on the hottest of hot seats. He proceeds to complete over 70% of his passes with 30 TD to 9 INT as a true freshman. Jayden Daniels wasn't in a bad situation but Arizona St was a fairly mediocre football team when he arrived. He completed 60% of his passes and had 17 TD and 2 INT as a true freshman. Dillon Gabriel got his chance at UCF because of an injury to Milton. UCF was a good football team but taking over for someone as good as Milton with that high of expectations isn't easy. He completed 59% of his passes with 29 TD and 7 INT. Even if you want to use the guy being trashed in this thread (Martinez), he completed 64% of his passes with 17 TD and 8 INT for a pretty bad football team as a true freshman.

Everyone is in a different situation. Some tougher than others. Trying to parse them all out and compare them would be a difficult endeavor, but the claim that a true freshman can't succeed, even in a tough situation is simply false.
 

croberts

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I’ll say the list of did something amazing to looked like a freshman is probably 1/20. Lawerence is a generational talent. If you replace Fromm with Sims that ga teams ends up in the same place. Howell is the only guy who is even a realistic comparison of situations to Sims. Howell had a full spring and was a freshman in a non covid year. As people have said Sims got better after first 3 games.

The argument at this point has become - I’m not sure Sims is a top 5 NFL draft pick or he didn’t inherit a playoff contending team. These comparisons are bananas.
Add that we would have loved the UNC line in front of Howell.
 
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