‘Bama’s Sims quietly quells the doubts

The little ‘Bama boy wasn’t the only one gnawing his fingernails.

“Oh, I watched that spring game and I was so worried. I thought, ‘This doesn’t look good for Blake,’” said Sims former Gainesville High coach, Bruce Miller. He had watched his guy molder off to the side for four years, Sims running scout team in practice or experimenting at running back. More than once, his coach wondered why Sims hadn’t transferred somewhere more welcoming. Added to that, everyone knew the Tide recently had gone shopping for another quarterback just in case — and Jacob Coker was on his way from Florida State.

Sims went 13 for 30 for 178 yards, a pair of interceptions and a touchdown in that final game of spring. Kind of ordinary. And ordinary really gets folks’ houndstooth undies in a wad around here.

On New Year’s Day, the Crimson Tide plays Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semifinal. Neither team will be starting the quarterback who looked equipped for such an historic moment when this season began.

The Buckeyes are down to their No. 3 choice, Cardale Jones, after Nos. 1 and 2 were broken over a long, hard year.

As for Alabama, turns out that, no, there wasn’t anyone else other than the fifth-year senior Sims. He’s still there, now superglued behind center. By the time he buzzed through Missouri in the SEC Championship game, Sims had broken predecessor AJ McCarron’s team passing yardage record. Averaging 490 yards of total offense a game, the ‘Bama offense under Sims is percolating at a team record pace.

“I’m so excited for him. The story of his season is remarkable,” Miller said.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a player go through as much as Blake went through for four years,” Saban said after the SEC Championship Game.

“I’ve never seen a guy work so hard from last spring when he had the opportunity, through the summer and into fall camp, and get the confidence of his players and execute well,” Saban added.

Sims’ story is the kind that coaches love, a fable they can tell every kid who doesn’t quite measure up at first glance. Keep working. Hang in there. Something good could happen. You might be the next Blake Sims.

For the bulk of his time in Tuscaloosa, through two national championship campaigns, Sims was a bit player. He was an occasional running back as a redshirt freshman in 2011 (22 carries, 107 yards) and got some mop-up duty in the 2012 BCS Championship Game back at quarterback. Mostly, it was his job in practice to mimic the quarterback for Alabama’s next opponent.

Now there is someone in Columbus, playing the role of Blake Sims. That has to feel sweet.

“Feels pretty good,” he said quietly. “I’m just blessed to be in this situation, be around the guys I’m playing with. They’ve made me better every day.”

Now he is two games away from possibly adding his name to the list of quarterbacks who have guided Alabama to a national title, the one-time forgotten player writing himself an everlasting place in Tide lore during his only season as a starter.

“A lot of guys come talk to me, we talk about what we can do. I keep telling them one game at a time. We can live that legacy if we don’t get by Ohio (State),” he said.

More for his example than his volume, Sims was voted the Crimson Tide’s most inspirational player at the team’s postseason banquet.

Not exactly an upset. “I don’t think that was a shocker to anyone that he won that award,” his center, Ryan Kelly, said. “With him, it’s not rah-rah speeches or anything like that. You can tell when a guy walks into a room, the way he carries himself. And I think that’s one of the things that carries Blake so far on and off the field, just the presence he has. The positive mindset he brings every day. When you’re around a person like that, it brings you up as well.”

Those in the non-10-year-old-outsider demographic can say now they had faith all along that Sims would rise to the occasion in his last year at Alabama. “We had confidence in Blake going into the season,” Saban said. “We knew he’d go through some growing pains like you do with most players. He has learned from those experiences and played extremely well since.” (Not to say the faith hasn’t been stress tested. After Sims’ third interception against Auburn, Coker was warming up on the sidelines, so close to going in until Sims responded with a touchdown pass).

Sims points to the late September Florida game — in which he threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns — as the one that really settled him into the starter’s role.

He also can point to the relationship with Alabama’s first-year offensive coordinator, Lane Kiffin, as a reason for this season of plenty. Sims said he loves Kiffin’s positive personality. His old coach Miller said he loves how Sims is releasing the ball quicker than he’s ever seen. Saban loves how Kiffin “tailored our offense to the people we had, doing what the quarterback can do.”

Some marriages just work. Some definitely don’t. Only 22, Sims knows that too well. Before leaving for Alabama, he married his high school girlfriend, who was pregnant with daughter Kyla. They divorced last year. Marriage, fatherhood, divorce, earning his college degree in human environmental sciences following academic struggles in high school — Sims ran the hurry-up on growing up.

It was his football maturation that took time. But after waiting four years for this single season of opportunity, Sims emerged as every bit the dynamic player that Miller remembered from the practice field at Gainesville High.

“I still don’t know if he knows how fast he is,” Miller said.

Sims can be as hard to find as he is to catch. Listed at an even 6-feet tall, he fits no mold for the ideal quarterback. His results, however, have an imposing stature.

And where do you suppose that 10 year old is now, he and his springtime angst?

“He probably jumped on the bandwagon like all the rest of them did,” Saban surmised.