Blake Sims vs. Cardale Jones Is the Semifinal Battle No One Saw Coming
NEW ORLEANS — The two starting quarterbacks here for the Sugar Bowl could not be more different, and they could not be more the same.
Ohio State's Cardale Jones is 6'5" and needs just a short step and short stroke of the arm to fling the ball 60 yards. Alabama's Blake Sims is 6'0", and his best passes are flash throws to the wings to receiver Amari Cooper.
On the other hand, both Jones and Sims were expected to be glued to the bench this season, not saviors of their program's national championship hopes.
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Jones was recruited by the previous coaching regime at Ohio State and bumped down to second team last August behind J.T. Barrett. Sims was miserable in the 2014 Alabama spring game (13-of-30 with two interceptions). FSU transfer Jacob Coker, even coming off knee surgery, was expected to stroll right in and rescue 'Bama, post-AJ McCarron.
Now, here they are. They will not just be bit players in Thursday night's national semifinal, but vital contributors. Alabama's run defense will likely force Ohio State to become a passing team with Jones. Sims, meanwhile, will have to get the ball in the hands of the Tide's best playmaker, Cooper, against a game plan Ohio State has spent three weeks scheming.
Jones is on the marquee not only because Barrett broke his ankle in the last regular-season game against Michigan, but also because he played well in a 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. Sims is on the marquee not only because Coker was not ready for the starting role, but also because the dual-threat QB set Alabama's single-season total-offense record (3,571 yards).
Supposed to be backups, Jones was the MVP of the Big Ten Championship Game; Sims was the MVP of the SEC Championship Game.
In this day and age, when quarterbacks flee one program for another at the first hint they are not going to be the man, this is a unique matchup. Sims and Jones did not put wheels on their careers and instead stuffed their egos inside their pockets.
"Far," Jones said when asked this week how close he was to transferring from Ohio State because Barrett was the starter and another injured star quarterback, Braxton Miller, had eligibility remaining.
Jones has talked in recent days about the pride of playing for his state school. He gave no indication he would bolt the program next spring if Barrett comes back from his broken ankle and wins the job.
Lane Kiffin, Alabama's offensive coordinator, said he asked Sims in the summer if all the speculation about the 6'5" Coker taking the job worried him. Sims told Kiffin, "Coach, I'm not worried about that." The fifth-year senior behaves as if he directly descends from a Crimson Tide bloodline and not from North Georgia.
Sims obviously did not languish on the bench at Alabama. He made an attempt to grow while he watched McCarron quarterback the Tide to two national championships.
"I just pretty much tried to learn from what AJ taught me and what AJ did, and what I saw from AJ. The way he studied the plays; the way he was humble; the way he kept his composure at all times; the way he was a game-manager," Sims said. "He did a great job of that, and I tried to bring that into this year."
Jones is 22 years old. Sims is 22. They are first-year starting quarterbacks but among the oldest players on their teams.
One of the key narratives of Thursday night's game will be how each quarterback handles 3rd-and-8. On paper, this is not the pet down-and-distance for either signal-caller.
Alabama led the SEC in third-down conversion (54.1 percent), but part of that was a function of Sims keeping his team in manageable 3rd-and-short situations. Jones, meanwhile, is a downfield passer, like way downfield. Can he make the medium toss in the middle of the field? Alabama does not allow swing passes on third down to gain eight yards.
The exceptional patience exhibited by these young men is reason to cheer for the two quarterbacks on New Year's Day. Jones had a challenging upbringing in Cleveland, agreed to be tucked away at a military prep school and then redshirted when Urban Meyer took over. Sims hung around the Alabama program for four years looking for a position to call his own and never complained.
Six months ago, it was unimaginable they would share the stage in one of the biggest games of the 2014 college football season. Yet, here they are.
Ray Glier covers college football for Bleacher Report.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
