After starting the opening six weeks of the season, redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt has officially been ruled out of Arizona State’s upcoming matchup with Cincinnati following a rib injury suffered in the Sun Devils’ win against Utah. Senior quarterback Jeff Sims was named the starter by coach Kenny Dillingham following Wednesday’s practice.
Currently in his fifth season, Sims started for three consecutive seasons at Georgia Tech, where he totaled 4,464 yards over the air and 1,166 yards on the ground for 41 total touchdowns. The lapse on Sim's resume, however, was in 2023, after transferring to Nebraska, the 6-foot-4 signal caller struggled to start the season, beginning in the program's first two games, throwing one touchdown and four interceptions en route to an 0-2 start. He appeared in three more games for the Cornhuskers, however, he only attempted passes in his final appearance for the program against Maryland. Sims completed 8-13 passes, but he notched two more interceptions in the process, bringing his total for the season up to six.
Despite a difficult year for this week’s starter, Dillingham and offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo placed complete faith in Sims when he transferred to ASU. They have continued to trust in him now that he will be under center on Saturday.
“We brought him in to compete to start,” Dillingham said Wednesday. “Jeff had a good camp. And now Jeff, who has started a crap ton of games, gets to go start again.
“Jeff coming in the summer putting the time in the fall camp, having been in the training camp, having been in the room, and really put his best foot forward in regards to doing What we do and learn the offense,” Arroyo said. “Without sitting back, he's been put in some dark hours.”
Sims’ past struggles at Nebraska will be a cause for concern. However, Dillingham has the utmost confidence in his quarterback and knows the quality he possesses. The resume he built at Georgia Tech grants him excitement and belief from the coaching staff.
“I want Jeff to know how much confidence we have in him,” Dillingham said. “If you can’t rally behind a guy who is a senior who transferred here to start, who's been the starting quarterback in four college seasons and has started week one for a football team. He's been nothing but a phenomenal teammate. He’s been nothing but dialed in the entire time.
“I've told him since fall camp, make good decisions, get us in a good place, and then when it's downs that you need to extend and use your legs, use them. We're not gonna sit back there and be a team that runs our quarterback 40 times because a different quarterback is back there. We're gonna do what we do, And we're gonna play to the strengths of the quarterback. We're gonna do what we do.”
Often, when a quarterback goes down, the schematics of the offense are forced to change and alter. However, with Sims' tall, athletic build coupled with his deep ball threat, Arroyo is not worried about managing the playbook for his backup quarterback, who possesses a versatile skill set. Changing the game plan won’t be necessary with the run game focus despite having Sims as the starter.
“I know it's like for the room, for the unit, for the coaching staff to say, ‘Hey, can the next guy out do feel confident that he can do what we need to do?’” Arroyo said. [Sims] had a great week, hasn't flinched, he went in the game, did a nice job, and scored a touchdown. And I'm excited about the week of prep.
“Within the offense doesn’t have to change that's the beauty,” Arroyo noted. A lot of times, you have to tear back; he can make every throw and every run. Physical, smart he’s been in a lot of systems and understands protections. He's done a good job in really what his fourth offense and cleaning the slate and saying, ‘You know what, here's what we do, here's how we do it.’ So we haven't had to change any offense, which is great. I think that's a tribute to him and the unit.”
Sims was able to score his first rushing touchdown in the Maroon and Gold against Utah during the second quarter while Leavitt was sidelined. He also completed his first pass later in the quarter to wide receiver Jordan Tyson before Leavitt returned for the game. Leavitt's injury to his midsection will have him sidelined for an unknown amount of time, fortunately for ASU the week following Cincinnati is a bye so he’ll have added time to rest up to the end of October.
Leavitt has made it no secret he is comfortable on the move, rushing for over 40 yards in four of six games this season. However, his desire to earn as many yards as possible may have put him in harm's way, not sliding on numerous occasions throughout the campaign. While his offensive coordinator believes Leavitt made a correct decision on the play that left him injured, he also believes this could be a valuable teaching moment for his young quarterback going forward.
“He plays a pretty aggressive type of ball. I think you gotta learn certain things,” Arroyo said. “But that was kind of an issue. That was kind of a bang-bang play; he's in the middle of things, caught in a hard place to slide down there. But [Sliding] is an emphasis that we encourage, and obviously, that position is important because it's just a focal point of keeping your longevity for the season and career.”
The Sun Devils feel more than prepared, regardless of the quarterback situation, for their upcoming matchup against Cincinnati. With the rest of the squad unchanged from last week's statement victory, the offensive identity centers around three-time Big 12 offensive player of the week running back Cam Skattebo.
“My whole career has been built on running the football,” Arroyo said. “Getting a guy in the backfield that can run and pound and create lanes, create single post safety stuff, and play action games. Anytime you have a guy who runs like that and works behind those five guys up front that way. We've got a lot of success.
Defensively, nothing changes ahead of their matchup against the Bearcats. After a practice Dillingham described as ‘Poor’ from the defensive unit, defensive coordinator Brian Ward attributes the early start to the team's attempts to adjust their bodies to match the time zone that sees them play at noon EST on Saturday.
“There are days that you're practicing really well, and you're rolling, and then there are days where you bring some adversity,” Ward mentioned. “Getting up a half an hour earlier than you did yesterday, and right now you're getting up an hour and a half earlier than you normally are, getting the juices flowing and getting to work because the last half of practice was actually really good. It was the first part of practice, just getting these guys going and getting these guys up to standard. It was a challenge for us coaches.”
ASU will look to have their juices flowing against a hungry Cincinnati (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) squad. Off the back of their first Big 12 road win of the season against Central Florida, their offense has been rolling in 2024, with an offensive efficiency rating of 155.9, which is fourth best in the conference. They were halted against UCF, however, scoring a season-low 19 points, and quarterback Brendan Sorsby threw two interceptions despite having just one through the opening five games of the season.
For Ward, slowing down a versatile offensive structure that the Bearcats pose will be the most difficult part of their challenge. However, with the Sun Devils matching the Bearcats in defensive efficiency and sitting fourth in the Big 12, the matchup will be an exciting affair on both sides of the pig skin.
“They're just explosive,” Ward said. “That's the thing. I know that their identity is to set up everything off the run, but you just see some of the explosive touchdowns that they've had this year, the speed that they have on offense, that's the thing that really jumps out. They run the football, they throw the football, and they're very balanced. They're as dynamic as any team that we've seen, maybe even a touch more.”
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