Luke Del Rio is gone - Blake Sims / QB discussion

derek4tide

Hall of Fame
Jan 19, 2005
11,492
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Daphne, AL
Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Personally, I love these kind of "problems". I still remember 2003-2004. At least we are not having to take baseball players and DII QBs and play them as starters.....
 

tidefanbeezer

All-American
Sep 25, 2006
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

I know I'm in the minority, but I don' think this will be a huge issue.

Bateman and McLeod have now had a full year in the system and (along with Sims and Morris) will have a full spring and fall practice to continue to develop. Cornwell will have spring and fall (though I think its unlikely that he'll start) to develop. Kiffin has proven that he can develop QBs (he got Jonathn Crompton drafted!!!!) and I think he'll help these guys along. I think we'll be fine.

I think our worst case scenario is we have a good QB who is simply asked not to lose games and we lean heavily on the 4 Horsemen of the Runpocalypse (Yeldon, Drake, Henry, Tenpenny). Which to me, sounds a lot like our 2009 offense.
 

TideFan in AU

Hall of Fame
Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

One thing to keep in mind about all this is the fact that the will now have a different QB coach. I've seen all my life in CFB and NFL where a different QB coach or OC will come in and help struggling QB look like Joe Montana. The fact is we don't know how Sims, Morris, or Bateman will respond to Kiffin's coaching. The light may come on for any one of them. As far as raw talent, it's there - and I believe any one of them has the potential to be a good QB. Seeing where we are right now makes me wonder about Nuss' ability to develop a QB from day 1. Looking back through his career, it seems he coached a lot of the QB's that he gets credit for coaching later in their careers. AJ had 3 years under McElwain before Nuss got here, so I don't know how much he actually developed AJ. AJ's most impressive performance of his career, IMO, came against LSU in 2011 because that was the best defense he faced in his career. That's not to say hasn't been great the last 2 years, I can't say I saw AJ dramatically get much better because of Nuss. I also can't say AJ regressed under Nuss either, I'm just saying I can't give Nuss all the credit for AJ's success like some people have suggested.
Either way, we are starting with a clean sheet of paper now, and at this point, it's silly to panic.
 

tusks_n_raider

Hall of Fame
May 13, 2009
12,133
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Bingo. I've told anyone who would listen, for month's, that Blake Sims is the only QB Coach Saban will trust enough to start next year, especially early in the season. Next year we're going to need a QB who's more of a game manager and doesn't make mistakes. I can't see Coach Saban giving that responsibility to a redshirt freshman.
The thing is though even our past real 'Game Managers' were JPW and GMAC and they could throw when asked to do so. It was apparent this past season they didn't trust Sims to come in and pass...at all. Everyone has known for months that LDR was the 'real' #2 and now he's gone.

We didn't bring CLK in to run a barner type offense with Sims. We need a true pro style pocket passer. Our best hope is that CLK glad turn on the brightest halogen light possible with Bateman or Morris. Or that Cornwell can come in and catch up hyper fast while shaking off ring rust.

Any of those things could happen but we are in trouble if Sims is starting. Great kid and teammate with lots of athletic ability and I like him being on our team but a true QB he is not.
 
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crimsonaudio

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Sep 9, 2002
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Some of y'all are forgetting that when Blake Sims has played with the ones he's looked good. Very good. Easy to forget that as much of his time came when many / most of the starters were sitting.

I'm not worried one but about BS as a starter, I'm pulling for him.

For the record:
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
20,947
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

The QB battle is going to be fun to watch the spring & fall that's for sure, like many Bama Fans, I will be pulling for Sims, but, I'm not sold on him being the right fit in our Pro Style Offense..That's not a knock against him, cause he's prolly the best pure athlete on the team(behind Henry), I'm just not sold on him throwing the ball..

If Sims wins the job, I imagine we're going to see a lot of the "Wildcat" formation with Sims running the offense..If that's the case, I'll be a happy camper, cause The "Wilcat" formation has mighty effective for us, when we ran out it, and Sims would be deadly running out of it should we go that route..Flame Away..That's just my gods honest truth about the situation(especially if Sims wins the starting QB job)..
I agree with your first paragraph (except Sims being the "best athlete on the team"). Like you say, nothing against Sims but I too don't see him as a fit for a pro-style approach. Based on what LK told Parks, we will run a version of a pro-style with an up-tempo twist.

However, I disagree with your second paragraph. Maybe it's semantics but when you say wildcat I see Mark Ingram lining up in the backfield with no option other than getting the ball and running it. It worked at times (I remember USCe game in 09) but it was too predicatable.

If Sims plays I could see a version of the zone read (which may be what you mean) with the option to hand off to our stable of running backs and with the option to pass. In my mind that sounds like the type offense Auburn runs and, once again, LK has said we'd stay pro-style.

If Sims was really the best athlete on the team I can't imagine him sitting on the bench the last two or three years when CNS could have gotten him on the field for dynamic, explosive type plays. In my mind, there's no way he's got the potential to be a game changing player if he's been riding the bench for three years as back up qb.
 

BamaMoon

Hall of Fame
Apr 1, 2004
20,947
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Some of y'all are forgetting that when Blake Sims has played with the ones he's looked good. Very good. Easy to forget that as much of his time came when many / most of the starters were sitting.

I'm not worried one but about BS as a starter, I'm pulling for him.

For the record:
You know CA, you may be right. The next time I make the decision about who'll play will be the first time.

I really wish I had a different impression about Sims because my opinion of him is nothing personal.

However, no matter if he was throwing to a starter or a back up I just remember him throwing some short passes to wide open players and him being off target. Throwing behind or at the feet of a wide open receiver when nobody is in your face is not the way to win the fans confidence.

Maybe the coaches have a different opinion, but that's what I keep thinking when I think of him as a potential starter.
 

OreBama

All-American
Sep 26, 2005
3,349
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Portland, OR
Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Personally, I love these kind of "problems". I still remember 2003-2004. At least we are not having to take baseball players and DII QBs and play them as starters.....
I hope this isn't a reference to Freddie Kitchens, who was clearly the greatest QB in Alabama history. :D
 

2003TIDE

Hall of Fame
Jul 10, 2007
8,576
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ATL
Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

I hope I eat crow on Sims, but I don't think we can win a championship with him. We can have a good year, win a lot of games, and I am sure he would do a fine job. But I can't see him taking us over the top, and right now, that's the standard.
We couldn't win a championship with the QB we had this year. Pretty sure it doesn't matter who starts next year. I think it will be a rebuilding year. A solid but 2 loss season. The real downside to starting BS at QB is we will be breaking in a starter for the next 2 seasons. I'd like to have a little continuity at the QB position....
 

Bamabuzzard

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Aug 15, 2004
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

I hope I eat crow on Sims, but I don't think we can win a championship with him. We can have a good year, win a lot of games, and I am sure he would do a fine job. But I can't see him taking us over the top, and right now, that's the standard.
Well, this might be what we have to accept this season and be happy with it. If we win another 11 games in 2014 I'll be tickled pink. Replacing a two time national champion Sr quarterback is never easy and more times than not the next season there is a drop off. Personally, from what I've seen of Sims in live action and in last years A-Day I'm not overly optimistic. But I do know that he has time to develop and the staff put together game plans that play toward his strengths.

My expectations next season aren't a national title. I'd like to win 10+ games and if we're fortunate enough to have some things go our way and get to the SEC championship game I'll consider that a great success considering what we lost and all the turnover on the staff.
 

TIDEnGA

All-American
Sep 25, 2007
3,247
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67
Opelika, AL
Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Well, this might be what we have to accept this season and be happy with it. If we win another 11 games in 2014 I'll be tickled pink. Replacing a two time national champion Sr quarterback is never easy and more times than not the next season there is a drop off. Personally, from what I've seen of Sims in live action and in last years A-Day I'm not overly optimistic. But I do know that he has time to develop and the staff put together game plans that play toward his strengths.

My expectations next season aren't a national title. I'd like to win 10+ games and if we're fortunate enough to have some things go our way and get to the SEC championship game I'll consider that a great success considering what we lost and all the turnover on the staff.
I tend to agree with this. I'm not saying that our team's goal every year has been to win the BCSCG, but maybe it has and maybe that's why when we're out of the picture at the last minute (i.e. 2008 and 2013) we tank and can't seem to play like the team we are.

Not trying to be negative, but I think we need to focus on winning the West and then the SEC. Winning the West will be a hard enough task but can be done. Then see where we can go from there.
 

hacksaw830

2nd Team
Jan 20, 2007
313
0
0
Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

This!
Well, this might be what we have to accept this season and be happy with it. If we win another 11 games in 2014 I'll be tickled pink. Replacing a two time national champion Sr quarterback is never easy and more times than not the next season there is a drop off. Personally, from what I've seen of Sims in live action and in last years A-Day I'm not overly optimistic. But I do know that he has time to develop and the staff put together game plans that play toward his strengths.

My expectations next season aren't a national title. I'd like to win 10+ games and if we're fortunate enough to have some things go our way and get to the SEC championship game I'll consider that a great success considering what we lost and all the turnover on the staff.
 

Alasippi

Suspended
Aug 31, 2007
12,875
2
57
Ocean Springs, MS
Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Some of y'all are forgetting that when Blake Sims has played with the ones he's looked good. Very good. Easy to forget that as much of his time came when many / most of the starters were sitting.

I'm not worried one but about BS as a starter, I'm pulling for him.

For the record:
Yep..and another thing--most times when he's come into the game it's been to perform mop up duty. He hasn't shown his total passing ability because he hasn't been allowed to.
 

jcabama

1st Team
Jul 19, 2004
499
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

Don't post much but observe quite a bit. Agree that the world isn't ending with Luke leaving though to be honest, I was pulling for him, maybe because I remember how tough and competitive his dad was on the field and I figured some of that had to have rubbed off on him. Either way, I hope he has great success and if he does go to OSU, that is great since Mike Riley is also a favorite of mine. All this aside though, we have been extremely blessed the last several years with QB health as I can remember almost no meaningful snaps being handled by our #2. While we've done a great job of building the next year's starter, I'm not sure how we would have fared if we had depended on the #2 to actually win a meaningful game(s) on short notice had GMc, or AJ gone down. Not to say we wouldn't have but our penchant for not letting the #2 run the full offense when they are in (yes I know we're generally running the clock and yes I saw Ga St but really!!) just leaves me doubting whether we could have kept it going. If Blake is the starter I feel that his penchant to run makes him getting through the season unscathed pretty remote and even if he's not, our luck at QB won't last forever so I hope we get not one but two guys ready to go before next year. I like Sims' loyalty and discipline, I like what little I've seen of Morris' arm and I know that McCloud had all the hype--I just hope two of them step forward for the coming year. With the embarrassment of riches at running back and receiver that we have, they don't have to be great, just competent and we'll be okay.
 

Bamabuzzard

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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

If Blake can keep his completion % in the 60's and his turnovers in the single digits he doesn't have to be another AJ McCarron for us to make a run. We've got talent all over the field, be it at RB, TE or WR. The skill positions are ripe with talent. Efficiency is the key for Sims. Just like it was with GMac and AJ.
 

crimsonaudio

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Sep 9, 2002
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

I consider 2013 to be a 'bad season'; not because of the W/L record, but because of the way we executed (or more correctly, the way we often didn't execute).

So in reality, unless / until the team's goal is no longer about a championship (either SEC or NC), we'll have issues. CNS's 'process' emphasizes challenging yourself to execute at 100% on every snap, and any focus on results / score / etc. will detract from that. We heard rumblings of this being an issue with this years' team in the fall and early in the season, and we played like it much of the season - generally lacking passion, often playing uncharacteristically sloppy - because the goal was to escape each week with a win instead of each individual performing their absolute best on every play.

If we can get the 2014 team to buy back into CNS's mindset of 'the process', we'll be in the mix for another NC. If, however, the goal is to win a championship, we'll likely see a replay of this season...
 

jthomas666

Hall of Fame
Aug 14, 2002
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Re: It appears Luke Del Rio is leaving

If we can get the 2014 team to buy back into CNS's mindset of 'the process', we'll be in the mix for another NC. If, however, the goal is to win a championship, we'll likely see a replay of this season...
We all had hoped that the 2nd half of the LSU game signified that the switch finally turned on. What I think really happened is that they saw how good they could be, and concluded that they'd be able to flip the switch back on whenever they needed.
 
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