“With Blake Sims, there are probably some things that he can do as a quarterback that we really don’t feature in this game,” Alabama Coach Nick Saban said after the A-Day spring scrimmage.
“For him to be an effective player at his position, in fairness to him, it’s probably good for us to do things like that. We really don’t feature our skill guys very much.”
So don’t read too much into the statistics from the A-Day “game.” Don’t take my word for it, Saban said it himself.
So here are the numbers as we talk about the battle to succeed AJ McCarron. And what a task that is to replace McCarron; given all that he won and all that he accomplished.
White Team quarterback Cooper Bateman finished the day completing 11 of 24 passes for 156 yards and one touchdown without throwing an interception. Crimson Team quarterback Blake Sims completed 13 of 30 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown with 2 interceptions. The Crimson Team totaled 297 total yards (119 rushing, 178 passing) on the day while the White Team finished with 219 total yards (54 rushing, 165 passing). The teams combined for six turnovers, three by each team.
“I didn’t think the consistency on offense was what I would’ve liked for it to have been today. We did make some plays, but there wasn’t the consistency that you would like to see in the offense,” said Saban.
The new Crimson Tide signal caller will of course have to deal with a limitation that McCarron didn’t- Lane Kiffin as his offensive coordinator. Kiffin is horrible at what he does, and is the greatest example of “failing upward” in the sports world.
(Of course, every AJ McCarron story, by law, require a link to Katherine Webb photos, and perhaps a gratuitous Katherine Webb bikini shot)
Saban on Blake Sims yesterday:
“I thought in the game he was trying to speed everything up a bit, and he tried to speed up with it rather than stay in his rhythm. It’s like when a baseball pitcher tries to throw the ball a little harder and all of a sudden he can’t throw a strike. I think there’s a lot of things he could do to be an effective quarterback that he didn’t do in this game today.”
“We recruited a guy, and Blake knows this, and Blake embraced the guy before the game, but they’re going to compete through the summer and through the fall.”
Exactly, it’s not Blake Sims versus Cooper Bateman. It’s Blake Sims versus Jake Coker. The back-up QB at Florida State, behind Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston, Coker is expected to be eligible this fall.
Jake Coker played in seven games last year at FSU. He saw action in four games as in 2012 and redshirted in 2011. So I think we’ve found our successor to A.J. McCarron. Jake Coker originally signed with FSU after leading St. Paul’s Episcopal to the state playoffs and a 10-2 record as a senior. He was also a standout basketball player who earned all-state recognition, averaging 21.9 points per game as a senior.
However, Blake Sims has all summer to prove me wrong.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)