The Sims Effect

Well, it's official.

Phillip Sims is transferring from Alabama to Virginia.  Phillip Sims is going to be a Cavalier.

If it sounds like I'm not that excited, it's because I'm really just in shock right now.  Excitement will come soon enough.  For now, it's confusion, bewilderment, disbelief.

We're Virginia.  Good things like this just don't happen to us.

Anyway, as I attempt to come to grips with this unmitigated awesomeness, I think it'll be a good exercise to walk through the many elements of the Sims Effect.

But first of all, I think it's important for everyone to know exactly what we're dealing with here.  Take a look:

He makes every throw.  Effortlessly.  He offers you indefensible plays - 20 yard outs, comebacks at any depth, post routes, fades, digs, curls, corners - all on the money.  He's not a runner but he can run.  He's everything - EVERYTHING! - you could want in a college football recruit at the quarterback position.  Phillip Sims is the best quarterbacking talent we have had at UVA since Shawn Moore.  And no shitting you on this, Sims has a chance to be better than Moore.

Anyway, The Sims Effect...

1) Open the 757 floodgates.  Thanks to Mike London and Chip West, the Hampton Roads-to-UVA pipeline had already begun to flow pretty freely.  Rijo Walker, Henry Coley, and Stephen Lawe in 2010, Clifton Richardson, Daquan Romero, David Watford, Tra Nicholson, David Dean, Ross Burbank, Kameron Mack, Caleb Taylor, and Mason Thomas in 2011, Eli Harold, Kwontie Moore, Courtnye Wynn, Anthony Cooper, Mark Hall, Mario Nixon, Kyle Dockins, Divante Walker, Wil Wahee, and Jamall Brown in 2012, and Zack Jones so far in 2013 --- we haven't seen a lot of these guys on the field yet, but I can assure you this group represents a big chunk of the raw natural talent on the roster; it is a big reason for the optimism surrounding the program right now.  Phillip Sims is a freaking folk hero in the Virginia Beach area, and his decision to transfer to UVA, coupled with the commitments of Richardson, Nicholson, Harold, and Moore, really serves to cement Virginia's status as the up-and-coming, sexy program for kids from the 757.  This impact cannot be overstated.  If Virginia can build a fence around the 757, it can climb to heights never before seen.  Virginia Tech has successfully mined Hampton Roads on its way to a decade of unprecedented success.  We can do the same, and we can take it even further than the Hokies ever could --- our coaches are hip urbanites who hail from the 757, they aren't drawling hicks from southwest Virginia.  Phillip Sims is the biggest name to join UVA's program, and don't think that anyone associated with football in that region is going to fail to notice the fact that one of their best and brightest prospects of the last decade has just joined the Hoos.  Sims-to-UVA could have a similar effect to what Michael Vick-to-VPI had for the Hokies.

2) He's a good quarterback.  In fact, the best we've had in a really long time.  What does that mean for Mike Rocco, Greyson Lambert, etc.?  Not sure yet.  In fact, how Mike London handles this situation could have a pretty big impact on his trajectory as UVA's head coach.  But at the end of the day, he's paid to win football games, and that means putting the best players on the field.  I don't want to see Rocco relegated to the bench after he won the battle for the starting job last season, and then played so well in leading us to 8 wins and the Peach Bowl.  But beating our Phillip Sims is a much different challenge than beating out Ross Metheny and true freshman David Watford.  If Rock is up to the challenge, then great.  It means our incumbent is a damn good QB.  But if Sims wins that battle - and I suspect that he will - it means that we have upgraded the position.  In Lazor's offense, the QB is key.  A stud quarterback should help us to win many more games than we otherwise would have.  I don't want to oversimplify this, but the key to rebuilding a program is winning games.  And the key to establishing a program as a legit up-and-comer on the national scene... is winning.  Phillip Sims can help us win.  I don't think Sims will be handed the starting job this fall, he'll have to earn it.  But I'm pretty sure he will earn it, despite his lack of familiarity with Lazor's playbook.

3) Instant cred.  Point blank: With Sims behind center, Virginia is a football program that must be taken seriously.  It puts us in the public eye, and it will put us on TV, in newspapers, on websites, and in magazines.  Exposure is like oxygen to a rebuilding program, and a quarterback of Phillip Sims stature is like an atomic-powered respirator.

4) Contender status.  What was Baylor before Robert Griffin III?  What was Stanford before Andrew Luck?  Sims can be our RG3 or our Luck, he can take us to new heights, he can take us to wins over Virginia Tech, to the ACC championship game, to the BCS.  He's that good.  This is not pie-in-the-sky optimistic bullshit, HE IS THAT GOOD.  Think of all of the teams that recently rose from relative obscurity to surprising success on the national stage.  What do so many of those teams have in common?  A great quarterback.  TCU with Andy Dalton.  Nevada with Colin Kaepernick.  Central Michigan with Dan LeFevour.  Auburn with Cam Newton.  Washington with Jake Locker.  Mike Rocco has a chance to be a very good quarterback.  Phillip Sims has a chance to be great.  Rock can take us to 8, 9 win seasons and good bowl games.  Sims could take us beyond...

I'm still processing everything, what it all means.  We've honestly never been in this kind of situation since I've been a dialed-in UVA football fan.  Mike Groh, Aaron Brooks, Matt Schaub, they were all good quarterbacks when they came in, and then ended up being our best of the last 20 years.  Sims is on an entirely different level.  We were already very excited about the football program, before this news broke.  Now?

Wow.

More on this later, including a breakdown on what August training camp will be like, assuming Sims is granted his hardship waiver and is eligible to play in 2012.  Until then...

GO HOOS!

And welcome home, Phillip Sims.

Photo courtesy of ESPNRISE.com