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Bama beat Missouri to win the SEC Championship. Woot!
Made it into the National Championship Playoff.
So it's the Sugar Bowl against Ohio State University (and Urban Meyer). Don't worry. We know that everyone who isn't Bama roots against us. That's just the way that these things go.
Feel good story, of this has to be our quarterback Blake Sims. Nice story re: Sims
Made it into the National Championship Playoff.
So it's the Sugar Bowl against Ohio State University (and Urban Meyer). Don't worry. We know that everyone who isn't Bama roots against us. That's just the way that these things go.
Feel good story, of this has to be our quarterback Blake Sims. Nice story re: Sims
Blake Sims did the impossible.
The improbable, anyway.
He didn't just win the starting job as quarterback at Alabama - though that was more than anyone thought he'd do. He did not merely lead his team to a No. 1 ranking {...} It wasn't just the way he pulled out his best when the pressure was on, though that didn't hurt. Alabama fans love the way he surprised them with his head and his arm and his feet. {...}after he threw three picks in the Iron Bowl, concerned that coaches would lose faith and yank Sims in favor of transfer Jake Coker. They held their breaths - and tweeted #believeinblake -- because Sims has come to be more than Alabama's quarterback. Somehow this year Blake Sims became a lesson, an example.{...}
"I don't know that I've ever seen a player go through any more than Blake went through for four years," Coach Nick Saban said. Scout-team. Depth-chart bottom-dweller at running back. Mop-up quarterback. You name it, Sims did it, "and he never complained about it," Saban said.
Blake Sims is the guy they said would never make it. He is Rudy and Rocky and the Little Engine that Could. He is the anti-Jameis {...}. He wins, and he wins the right way. {...}He does not dance in the end zone or taunt the opposition. He does not boast or brag. When questioned about his most glorious moments, he talks of others. Not "my receivers" or "my line," like Jameis Winston says. Sims talks of the "great players" around him.
What a distance to come for a kid who seemed like a place-holder for so long, just another backup happy to trot onto the field when the game was won and Alabama needed to hand the ball to somebody who wouldn't score {...} They said he'd never play quarterback at a school like Alabama, so he played other positions without complaint. He watched in the shadow of larger-than-life McCarron, and was nothing but a teammate for four years. When FSU's Coker transferred to Bama to become quarterback, Sims - in his final year -- did what he always did. He worked. He did not complain. He asked no pity and showed no bitterness. He just worked more. And he won.{...} He is the regular guy who was more than we ever dreamed. When he was asked after the LSU game how he managed those third-down miracles, he answered this way:"We always feel good about third down because that's what we work the most on in practice, and Coach Kiffin prepares us so well during the week that we know we're going to convert on third down."
Not me. Us.
Not I. We.
{...} It takes a whole team to win. But a positive, no-drama, no-ego, team-first quarterback sure doesn't hurt. And he is now the SEC Championship MVP.Blake Sims is the quarterback Alabama has always claimed to want. Loyal, patient, respected and respectful, first and foremost a part of a team. He won Alabama fan's respect on the field. He accomplished the improbable by winning their hearts. He did that simply by being Blake Sims.
