Steven Sipple: Huddle up! Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims feels confident as leader of an offense that has potential but plenty to prove
First-year Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims seldom was in a huddle during his three seasons playing for Georgia Tech.
In high school down in Florida? No huddles at all, he says.
Marcus Satterfield, the Huskers’ first-year offensive coordinator, asks his players to huddle up, which is fine with Sims.
“I love huddling,” Sims said last week during Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis. “I get to talk to the guys, and it’s a little breather. That’s a good time to calm the guys down during a long drive, just tell them, ‘C’mon, we’re good, we’re going to get through it.’
“Tell them we’re going to score, motivate them.”
Jeff Sims has illuminating session with media
Sims’ session with media Thursday was illuminating. He seems comfortable in the Nebraska fishbowl. He sounds confident in his ability to operate Satterfield’s scheme at a high level. Sims, in fact, says he clicked with Satterfield immediately.
Listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds — he’s more like 230 right now, he says — Sims won his starting job during the spring. He won it easily, in fact, and Satterfield recently said he thinks Sims is “poised to have a breakout year.”
A breakout year would only bolster his effectiveness as a leader.
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying: Leadership is performance, and performance is leadership.
The better a quarterback performs, the more intently teammates will listen to him — yes, including in the huddle.
“It was kind of cool (in the spring),” Sims said. “We’d be going against the defense in practice. They’d be beating us, and I’d be like, ‘All right, look, they can’t do this. We’re the best offense in the country. C’mon now.’
“Everybody would be like, ‘Yeah, let’s go down and score.’”
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Sims leads a Nebraska offense that returns seven starters from a 2022 unit that finished 101st nationally in yards per game (344.2) and 100th in points (22.6). The offensive line is veteran laden, but it’s a group that’s struggled. The Huskers return their leading rusher (Anthony Grant) and second-leading receiver (Marcus Washington), but overall talent is far from overwhelming.
Nebraska likely will lean hard on Sims. He seems excited about the challenge. Excited to lead.
His eyes light up as he describes his favorite “huddle moment” of the spring.
“Coach (Matt) Rhule came in the huddle one day as we were scrimmaging the defense,” Sims recalled. “He said, ‘All right, look, this is what we’re going to do.’ He told Marcus to run a route, he told the offensive line to max protect, and he just told me to fake a hand-off. He said, ‘I swear it’s going to be a touchdown.’”
Guess what? The offense found the end zone.
It won’t always be so easy in the autumn. It hardly ever is for Nebraska these days. Make no mistake, though, Rhule has faith in his starting quarterback.
In fact, Rhule tells you in a matter-of-fact manner that he thinks Sims is a future NFL player if he continues to develop well.
“Jeff has a quiet way about him that I like,” Rhule said Thursday. “One of the things I’ve learned is let people be themselves — just try to help them be the best version of themselves. So, I want him to lead in a way that he feels comfortable with.
“I see him exerting his presence more and more often.”
Jeff Sims says he’s made improvement in key areas
Satterfield this spring asked Sims to raise his completion percentage (it was 57.5 for Georgia Tech) and cut down on turnovers (he threw 30 touchdown passes against 23 interceptions for the Yellow Jackets).
Sims said he’s made marked improvement in both areas.
Again, Rhule expresses confidence in his QB.
“I think Jeff’s a triple threat,” the coach said. “He can run it and he can throw it and he can beat you with his brain. He’s smart. He’s not super talked about outside of Nebraska circles, but I think he’s going to play really well.
“The last thing I’ll say is the guys play for him. They want to see him be successful. He cares about all the guys on the team and spends a lot of time with all the guys on the team.”
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Sims is new to the program and still expected to lead. Of course, there are challenges in that regard, or so one would think.
“It’s not really something that’s affected me,” he said. “I think once you build relationships with teammates and hang out with them and get to know them, I think the ‘new guy’ thing goes out the window. You feel like you’ve been there for years.
“When I first got here, when I first got to Nebraska, my biggest focus was to build relationships with my teammates and get to know the guys and make sure they know me and know where I come from, so they can respect me as a leader.”
He’s proud to say he draws inspiration from his family, noting it’s a family of hard workers. His dad runs his own lawn service, and it’s thriving, Sims said.
New Husker QB works hard to get to know teammates
As Jeff Sims spoke, one could get a better feel for his potential as a leader. He projects confidence, yet with a healthy dose of humility. He’s well-spoken, polite and poised.
He also was illuminating. For instance, he noted the importance — and challenge — of learning his new teammates’ names after transferring from Georgia Tech. In his early days in Lincoln, he sometimes went with the standard, “What’s up, bro?”
Then there was a period when he knew mostly just last names. That wasn’t enough. He kept at it. He scrolled through the roster on quiet nights. He put faces with names.
It helps that each Nebraska player has his face pictured on his locker.
If Sims forgot a name, that became a go-to method of remembering.
Bottom line, it was important to him.
“I see myself as a leader and I knew that before I could say anything or lead (teammates), I had to know them,” Sims said. “I couldn’t go to a guy and try to tell him to do something, and I don’t even know his name.”
That wouldn’t fly in a huddle during the tension of autumn.
As August arrives, Sims seems ready for it. All of it.
We’ll soon learn if a breakout season is in fact in the cards.
The post Steven Sipple: Huddle up! Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims feels confident as leader of an offense that has potential but plenty to prove appeared first on On3.
