Blake Sims should have been a Heisman Trophy finalist

New member here, and first post. I love what Blake brings to the team. Hi everybody!

EscaTider said:

Better yet, go back and check the game threads through most of the season. A handful of people were clamoring for Coker throughout the season.

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I have to admit that after the 3rd int against the boogs I was ready for Coker to come in and thought the game was lost without a heroic effort. We got that heroic effort from Sims. Kudos to Blake and to the coaches for making the right call. The int at the end of the Ole Miss game was on Howard for not squaring up and high-pointing the ball. The ball was in the exact right spot.

I think Sims is deserving of at least consideration. That alone seems miraculous. Sims worked his butt off during the off season to be ready and it shows. Congrats to him. I didn't think he would undergo such a startling transformation from what I witnessed (mainly) at several A-Days to what I've witnessed this year. I am very impressed with this young man's character, his pluck, his grit. It really symbolic of this team's persona this year, if you ask me. Just when you think they've gone down for good they get right back up, keep fighting, and find a way many more times than not. Congratulations to the young man for going from never gonna start to won't win more than 10 games to SEC Champion to Heisman consideration by at least a few folks. Wow.

Ldlane said:

Just an observation.......

It's funny how Blake is viewed now as opposed at the start of the season. In June everyone was praying for Coker, now it's Blake for Heisman. Fans!

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Wasn't just Bama fans..........Did ya see the Spring Game? An unknown had to be better than what we saw. I don't know when Blake got 'it', but I am glad he did.

KrAzY3 said:

I thought Alasippi caught the most flack for defending Sims. I and my adamant position that he can throw the deep ball (the question now might be which Alabama QB could throw a better deep ball) caught some, but some people really gave Alasippi a hard time.

Anyway, I kept seeing Winston's name being brought up in the Heisman discussion, and there's simply no doubt that Sims deserved at least as much consideration this year as Winston. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say he should have been top 3, but his name should have been a bigger part of the discussion.

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Winston gets mentioned simply because he is the reigning Heisman winner. No one in their right mind can make a logical reason for Winston to be a Heisman candidate this year outside of, "Well, he won it last year".

AgentAntiOrange said:

I would be fine if a player (any player from any school) publicly said, "No thank you", to the Heisman trip. I know that won't happen but, IMHO, The Heisman needs a reality check and needs to get back to awarding young men who are great athletes, great students, and community leaders instead of the guy with the best stats. That award needs to make an effort to regain some integrity or be discontinued.

No reflection on any finalists from this year.

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This would really change the politics of it I think, but will never happen. ESPN to big now & they control it.

CrimsonPride said:

We all know that Mariota will win but Blake should have been invited. This is the first time in a long time that they only invited three. If the Honey Badger was able to go then Blake should have be too.

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I didn't realize they invite a different number of candidates in different years. In my opinion, it would appear to be more fair if they had a set number to invite each year...the same number invited every year.

An arbitrary, random number of candidates chosen helps to reduce my already stretched-thin respect for the Heisman Trophy.

Chukker Veteran said:

I didn't realize they invite a different number of candidates in different years. In my opinion, it would appear to be more fair if they had a set number to invite each year...the same number invited every year.

An arbitrary, random number of candidates chosen helps to reduce my already stretched-thin respect for the Heisman Trophy.

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It's based on the % of the vote you get. I don't know what the set amount is, but basically, Mariotta, Gordon and Cooper got the lions share of the votes, so they are invited. Some years the vote is more concentrated than others.

Had Sims gotten enough votes, he likely would have cannibalized votes from Cooper and neither of them would have been invited. I don't know that I've ever seen 2 candidates from the same team in the finals. This can happen regionally as well. It was theorized that Honey Badger took votes from Richardson, since they split the vote in the southern region.

If anything, I believe Sims should have been first team SEC.

He really should be. I don't think he got enough praise this season until our last game, which is unfortunate.

His QBR really wasn't that far off from Mariota. Sorry that pic is so small.

BamaJama17 said:

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Awesome print.

KrAzY3 said:

I thought Alasippi caught the most flack for defending Sims. I and my adamant position that he can throw the deep ball (the question now might be which Alabama QB could throw a better deep ball) caught some, but some people really gave Alasippi a hard time.

Anyway, I kept seeing Winston's name being brought up in the Heisman discussion, and there's simply no doubt that Sims deserved at least as much consideration this year as Winston. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say he should have been top 3, but his name should have been a bigger part of the discussion.

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Thanks so much K. I did indeed get some flack. BUT, I want it be known. I never one time predicted anything about Blake's future performance. I simply said that I thought Coach Saban would give him one opportunity to start one game. Our first game, this year, against West Virginia.
That was it.
That launched an avalanche of criticism. Oh well.
Hey. I got suspended from this board for defending Kevin Norwood when "experts" were calling him , "slow" and an "average" wide receiver.
It felt good watching him catching a pass for the Seahawks last week.
I despise seeing players, who are giving it their all for Bama, being scrutinized, so much.
That being said, Blake far exceeded my expectations.
He's been incredible.
Thanks again..
Sip

tidefanbeezer said:

It's based on the % of the vote you get. I don't know what the set amount is, but basically, Mariotta, Gordon and Cooper got the lions share of the votes, so they are invited. Some years the vote is more concentrated than others.

Had Sims gotten enough votes, he likely would have cannibalized votes from Cooper and neither of them would have been invited. I don't know that I've ever seen 2 candidates from the same team in the finals. This can happen regionally as well. It was theorized that Honey Badger took votes from Richardson, since they split the vote in the southern region.

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Bush/Leinhart and White/Peterson were finalists as teammates

There has to be a big "PR" push from fan organizations or boosters to get a player in the race also. I remember at FSU when Charlie Ward won it. The push started at the beginning of the year with $$$ behind it. Blake simply didn't gel early enough to get the push that Amari already had coming into the year.

TideMom2Boys said:

Awesome print.

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Thanks I found it on Instagram.

Tidefan1 said:

Bush/Leinhart and White/Peterson were finalists as teammates

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Learn something new every day!

Alasippi said:

Thanks so much K. I did indeed get some flack. BUT, I want it be known. I never one time predicted anything about Blake's future performance. I simply said that I thought Coach Saban would give him one opportunity to start one game. Our first game, this year, against West Virginia.
That was it.
That launched an avalanche of criticism. Oh well.
Hey. I got suspended from this board for defending Kevin Norwood when "experts" were calling him , "slow" and an "average" wide receiver.
It felt good watching him catching a pass for the Seahawks last week.
I despise seeing players, who are giving it their all for Bama, being scrutinized, so much.
That being said, Blake far exceeded my expectations.
He's been incredible.
Thanks again..
Sip

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Blake has far exceeded all our expectations...I am overjoyed for him and the team. Also, note that two players, Blake and Jalston Fowler, both of whom stayed for 5 years and worked hard, now have their handprints at Denny Chimes. No one would have predicted this.