The knock on Phillip Sims heading into the 2012 football season was that the ballyhooed Alabama transfer and former top QB recruit in the nation just hadn’t had time to get the UVa. offense down pat.
It was just one drive at the end of a 43-19 blowout win over a I-AA team, but what a drive it was.
Sims led Virginia on a 14-play, 87-yard touchdown drive on which he completed five of his six pass attempts for 50 yards.
The highlight for the fans was a 24-yard completion on a deep out to E.J. Scott. The zip on the pass, one of the more difficult for a quarterback to make, encapsulated what Virginia fans have in terms of the promise that the redshirt sophomore has to offer.
They’d be more impressed to hear Sims talking after the game about what he thought was his highlight of the day.
Try a simple 6-yard hitch pass to Tim Smith.
“It was a progression where I pretty much had to go from the right side, all the way from the right side of the field, all the way back over to my left. That’s not really something you can simulate in practice a lot because you don’t get that look. When you get it in a game, you’ve got to make it,” Sims said.
The offense seemed to get a positive jolt from Sims when he came into the game.
“We ran smoothly. We were getting the play calls in and out quick. I think we did a great job of getting in and out of the huddle, getting up to the line, getting motion shifts, anything we needed to do, getting it done. Getting the ball snapped off in time. I felt good with that,” Sims said.
Sims said he has “about 85, 90 percent” of the UVa. offense down at this point in time.
Remember, he spent the spring at Alabama, where he was a highlight of the spring game of the defending national champion Crimson Tide.
Sims has had only a few weeks to get down the intricacies of UVa. offensive coordinator Bill Lazor’s offense, but as the backup, for now, at least, he’s ready to go in on a moment’s notice.
“With the game plan, if I’m not 100 percent, there’s something wrong with me. I have to go in every week and have to be able to execute any play the coaches will ask me to run. That’s just the way it is,” Sims said.
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