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Nebraska received a commit from Georgia Tech quarterback transfer Jeff Sims. Four takes on the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder:
Dual-threat football. After a year hiatus from Nebraska asking its quarterback to tote the ball 15 times per game, Sims’ commitment to NU is a clear sign of intent, since Sims is a fast, long-striding runner who averaged 11 carries per game in his Georgia Tech stint, and had 13 games where he toted the ball 12 times or more. Anyone who followed Baylor under Rhule knows Charlie Brewer carried the ball often; 17 and 18 times in back-to-back games against Oklahoma and Texas, in fact. Sims has the frame to break tackles, but his initial burst is such that he often outruns the first defender. Though it’s an unfair bar to meet, Sims’ No. 10 and upright running style looks a lot like Robert Griffin III.
Risks and rewards. The approach comes with risks — as in, quarterbacks get hurt, as Sims did this season for the Yellow Jackets — and also rewards. More rushing yards, for one thing — ask Mississippi, UCLA and Arkansas, all of whom run it for more than 220 yards per game with running QBs — and often better playaction passing. It’s worth noting that Nebraska’s quarterback, Casey Thompson, only “carried” the ball 5.3 times per game in 2022, with most of those being sacks. At South Carolina — the last stop of new offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield — Spencer Rattler carried the ball 5.5 times per game. So both NU and Sattefield are going back to something they know well.
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Sims can sling it some, too. He threw for more than 250 yards five times, as well, including a 359-yard performance against Pittsburgh in 2021. A four-star recruit out of high school, Sims throws from the ear and can push the ball downfield with a flick of the arm, but Georgia Tech wasn’t much of a vertical passing team (unlike Nebraska in 2021 and 2022). Sims could be more accurate on the intermediate routes between 10 and 20 yards, but his 57.5% career completion rate isn’t bad.
Nebraska’s QB room is taking shape in an interesting way. NU went through 2022 with five scholarship quarterbacks, three of whom got hurt and two of whom (Heinrich Haarberg and Richard Torres) appeared in one fewer game than Hastings walk-on Jarrett Synek. It was a wonky room befitting of a program that had three offensive coordinators over four seasons and a former quarterback coach who only had so much say in which quarterbacks came to the program. NU sorely needs stability — with a little spirited competition — at the QB spot.
