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ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL: OHIO STATE v ALABAMADecember 30, 2014Blake SimsNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Q. How are you embracing this moment and this week and really this is your opportunity to shine here for Alabama? BLAKE SIMS: It's a great feeling for me and my teammates and get an opportunity to play here at the Sugar Bowl again. This is a great time. This is a great stadium to play in. And there's some people out there, New Orleans Saints fans, to be able to be where they're playing and they play great games at. Q. How about your progression as a quarterback and Lane Kiffin giving you freedom from the line of scrimmage. How much freedom do you have to make changes at the line of scrimmage and audible? BLAKE SIMS: I have some freedom. It's that everybody's really got good communication and talking to each other so we can be successful in the game. Q. And when did that start for you? How much is your development from where you started in the fall to where you are now, where have you seen the most growth you think in your game? BLAKE SIMS: I would say the Florida game, that's when I started getting comfortable. I think everybody on the team started trusting each other and we became one. And the Arkansas game, the Ole Miss game, we started coming closer and closer together. Q. Give me your impressions of Urban Meyer before this game, before you guys started studying him and how did it change after you guys looked at film and saw Ohio State? BLAKE SIMS: All I knew of Urban Meyer is what he has done at Florida, he's a great coach there. He won a lot of national championships. You have to respect him as a coach. He came to Ohio State, turned the program around. And I know that he's going to prepare for us very well and get his team ready. Q. You guys have been down in New Orleans for a couple of days how have you been able to avoid the distractions and things going around, you have a lot of fans, obviously it's New Orleans, there's a lot going on. How are you able to keep that in check? BLAKE SIMS: It's really‑‑ we told our players to‑‑ we said we've grown, we've grown, realize this is a business trip. We didn't come here to have fun, the only time we have fun is if we win. For us to win we have to take one day at a time, prepare the right way and listen to what Coach Saban tell us because he's going to lead us the right way. Q. What time are you guys checking in for the night? BLAKE SIMS: 11 o'clock. Q. I wanted to ask you if you can describe your relationship with Lane Kiffin and how he brought you along and how it evolved in to you becoming a starting quarterback? BLAKE SIMS: He's a great guy. I'm glad that Coach Saban chose him to be offensive coordinator and that we have a great relationship. He has no problem letting me know what I'm doing wrong. He has no problem jumping on me. I like that as a coach because it makes me a better quarterback and better leader for my team. Q. How has he most affected your development on the field? What areas has he shaped you, do you think? BLAKE SIMS: My body language, mindset, awareness. And the game management. Q. In the game, if you make a mistake, let's say, what has he said to you that kind of helps you maybe clear your mind, get back on track as you move forward? BLAKE SIMS: Series, the next series, the next play, don't worry about what happened. Stay calm. Q. How would you describe your confidence level when they brought in Coker last year, and the fact that you really hadn't moved around? BLAKE SIMS: I didn't think too highly, and I didn't get too down. I just brought Jacob in with open arms. If he was a quarterback, I had nothing but confidence in Jacob that he was going to lead the right way and he was going to be a great leader for our team because this is my last year, and I want to leave with another championship. Q. And the fact that you waited so long for this opportunity, how difficult was that to be behind AJ McCarron all that time? BLAKE SIMS: It wasn't difficult, because I knew when I had my opportunity, if I was doing it, starting quarterback, next year I would be in the right hands. A.J. taught me the right way. Taught me a lot of things and he showed a lot why he was successful. Q. Can you talk about your journey? You've been‑‑ I don't know if you know this, probably don't read all the clippings on yourself, but when people talk about quarterbacks doing it the right way and somebody being the team player and being willing to do whatever is asked of them, you've been multiple positions on the team. You've fought, you've clawed. You've hung in there. And people talk about that in a huge way. Could you talk about your journey that's led up to where you are today? Have you wrapped your head around that yet? BLAKE SIMS: I haven't wrapped it around it yet. But I'm just trying to take one day at a time. After my sophomore year I put a lot in God's hands guys, and I just really do what he told me to do and I see about me doing that as a blessing many, many times, the LSU game, as many times as people said how did you do that, God helped me. Q. Are there guys on the team, younger guys, that have come up to you that said because some of these guys come in, it's Alabama, they come in, five stars, they're really good athletes, do you know if that attitude has trickled down to some of your teammates that I'll do whatever is asked of me, doesn't matter, you just said it about Jacob Coker, doesn't matter who the quarterback is, I'll do whatever is asked of me what's best for the team? BLAKE SIMS: I have guys come in ask me how I do it, what made me stay. I told them that you gotta have a positive mindset. You gotta be patient. And never took a day off and when you get your opportunity make sure you take full advantage of it. Q. You met a young lady named Corbin White a couple of weeks ago and wore her bracelet. And I know that she's in the fight of her life with pediatric cancer. What did that mean to you and your thoughts on Corbin, as she goes through that fight? BLAKE SIMS: When you go through things like that, you've got two decisions, to give up or fight. And she's going to fight as hard as she did and it's hard for me to see how hard she's fighting, I have no reason to complain to the life I'm living or if I'm tired. She's like a motivation to me. And when she asked me to wear her bracelet I have no problem wearing it because she doesn't know that when I'm tired in the game or when I want to stop or don't want to get up in the morning I look at her bracelet and it motivates me to get up. Q. When you talk about McCarron being a good mentor, how did that relationship involve‑‑ what did you get from him, how closely did he work with you? BLAKE SIMS: It was in meetings, if I saw something, I saw like a coverage I really couldn't recognize, asking him what would you do right here? He said you can look at the safety and you realize the coverage is right here. He taught me when I watched film, instead of watching the film, try to put the plays that you'll have in the game plan, put it to that defense and it can help you out. And it was true. Q. Now when you look at the Ohio State defensive line, obviously those two guys could be a big impact in the game. How much of your game plan is going to be built around neutralizing them and the pass rush? BLAKE SIMS: They're a great team. They play with a lot of passion. And they want to win games. They play together. Very fundamental, sound. And they do what their coach tells them to do. Q. Do they remind you of any team you've played against? BLAKE SIMS: Their defensive line reminds me of Missouri. They've got great defensive linemen that they're good at all spots. And I think that that was a good team to compare them to. Q. When you talk about it's Alabama versus Ohio State but bigger picture SEC‑Big Ten, do you guys talk about that as players, kind of playing for the SEC, getting a chance to show how good the SEC is? BLAKE SIMS: No, we don't look at it like that. We look at the opportunity that we're one game from our journey and do you want to do the right things through the week that leads up to the game to reach our dream or do you not want to do the right things. It's another team that's coming and trying to beat us and we gotta do what we have to do. Q. If you could, go back and give us the relationship that you and Lane Kiffin have going back to when you recruited out of Gainesville, Georgia, doesn't go back to just these last nine months it goes back to when you were coming out of high school? BLAKE SIMS: Yes, it does. I was recruited in high school. He came to my house. We had a great time. Sat in my living room for 10, 11 hours and he convinced me. I knew he was a great coach. He liked to win and I like to be around coaches that likes to win. And that's why I came to Alabama. Because Coach Saban was a guy that likes to win. And for him to bring Coach Kiffin back and for me to spend my last year with Coach Kiffin, I knew that the offense would be good. Q. Were you close to decommitment from Alabama to go to Tennessee if Lane had stayed at Tennessee, would you maybe have gone there? BLAKE SIMS: I really don't even know. I think him leaving it made my decision a lot easier. But I needed more time to realize. Q. A lot of people have talked about how early in the season you stayed steady and continued to work hard even though you weren't named a starter. You weathered all the noise on the outside to continue to do what you had to do. What impact did being a father and having to deal with a young child and all the responsibilities of that, does that have any impact on just how you were able to come to work and focus and be more mature? BLAKE SIMS: Being a father, it does impact me to my drive, because my biggest fear is to tell my little girl no, that I can't‑‑ if she asks me to buy something for her I can't do it. And for me to be able to do that, I have to be successful and do the little things that's right. And that's one thing that she has helped me done. Q. Nick and Lane have talked all week about how you stuck it out for five years. It's really good to see a guy in the first year like that. The other side, Ohio State you've got Braxton Miller who is going to get his fifth year back next year. He's got two other guys, one guy could have been the best player in the country this year, the other guy now playing quarterback, what would you do if you were him, you were in that situation you could leave and go play wherever you wanted? BLAKE SIMS: I don't know. It's very hard for me to make that decision. I'm not in his shoes right now. But the decision that he make, I know would be the best for him. I know he'll certainly talk to his parents about it. Q. If you're a player it's hard to leave behind what you built even if the future doesn't turn out like you want do you ever think like that? BLAKE SIMS: Yeah, because you don't want to leave your teammates. You care about your school but you worry about the future. You want to look ahead. Sometimes it's bad to live in the past because you reminisce and it might hold you from what you're trying to do. Q. Will your daughter be here at this game? BLAKE SIMS: She will. Q. Does she have a sense of what's going on in terms of the magnitude of it or are you just still kind of just dad? BLAKE SIMS: At the football game, she knows that like if we won or we lost, just about the emotions that's going around in the house. She still has fun. She still puts a pretty smile on. And she asks me if I'm okay, if I got any injuries and stuff like that. When I tell her no, she just goes on and she plays with my little sisters and stuff. Q. As long as you're okay, that's all that matters? BLAKE SIMS: Yes. Q. Could you describe your relationship with Amari Cooper and how he helped you develop as a starter? BLAKE SIMS: He's like a little brother to me. There was times during the spring and through the summer that we watched film and he is just helping me, like letting me know what coverages look like and just letting me know what he would do if he did this. He helped me learn the concepts and the offense. Q. When you say little brother, what do you mean by that? What type of relationship? BLAKE SIMS: Little brother just like I'm here for him, if you ever need any advice. Like when he came in, like, we started the process of being good friends, you know what I'm saying. And I care about him a lot. Outside of football, we need anything, I know we're there for each other. Q. What's it like just throwing it up to him, to make a play in a tight situation? BLAKE SIMS: It's great. Great to have him there. And you have got good communication, somebody you don't have to‑‑ certain teams pick up on signals. We don't have to do any signals. We know what we're going to do at a certain time. Coach Kiffin does a great job placing us, helping us do that in practice, and I think that we know what makes Amari Cooper so great you've got two other guys on the field, Christion Jones and DeAndrew White that are very explosive. Missouri had focused on Coop in the game and DeAndrew White and Christion Jones had a great game. Q. What do you mean you guys do that you improvise in practice, what did you mean by that? BLAKE SIMS: We might have a certain play called and I'll look at him and he might nod his head or shake his head or something like that and we just know what that means. Q. What grade is your daughter in now? How old is she? BLAKE SIMS: Five years old. Q. Kindergarten? BLAKE SIMS: Kindergarten. Q. Has she taken you to like school yet for like show‑off day or a project at school or anything? BLAKE SIMS: No, I haven't had the opportunity to go to her school. But after my last game I'm looking forward to doing that. Q. When you look across at the other team, how difficult‑‑ you can imagine what it's like to be a backup quarterback obviously. How difficult is the situation that Cardale Jones is in now, having to just step in with the one Wisconsin game and step into a stage like this? BLAKE SIMS: I have nothing but confidence. I mean, I'm glad like I have nothing but respect for him. And that's very big for him to he'd always step up and do that for his team. That shows a lot of his character. There's not a lot of quarterbacks that will get up and just do that for their team and perform the way they did. I think at the Wisconsin game he earned a lot of respect from a lot of people. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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