North Carolina coach Mack Brown has coached an all-time great quarterback before. And he sees the potential for greatness in Georgia Tech quarterback Jeff Sims.
“When I first saw him, in his first game at Georgia Tech, I said, ‘Whew, this guy’s really good. He’s very talented,’” Brown said of Sims on Monday. “‘So he’s going to give them a chance moving forward.’”
Brown was referencing Tech’s season-opening win at Florida State in 2020, when Sims completed 23 of 34 passes for 277 yards while running 13 times for 64 yards in the Yellow Jackets’ 16-13 win.
Watching the game against the Seminoles, Brown said, “I said, ‘Look out, this guy has a chance to be a superstar.’ And I saw that Saturday night.”
Brown offered the recollection following Tech’s 45-22 win over Brown’s Tar Heels, in which Sims completed 10 of 13 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown and ran 10 times for 128 yards and three touchdowns, including one of 50 yards. After the game, Brown said that Sims “looks like Vince Young,” Brown’s national-championship quarterback at Texas, Heisman Trophy runner-up and a first-round pick. Brown was asked to expound on the comparison Monday.
“He’s tall,” Brown said of Sims. “He’s got the same strides like Vince. He outruns people. You don’t know how fast he is, but he’s faster than everybody chasing him. And he’s a very accurate passer. And we allowed him to run. We stopped him a lot but when he got away, he had a 38- and a 50-yard run. And we allowed him to throw it and complete it. So he was very accurate.”
Tech plays Pittsburgh at home Saturday.
“Georgia Tech’s better than people think they are like Georgia State’s better than people think they are, because Georgia Tech nearly beat Clemson with (Jordan) Yates,” Brown said. “They had it down to a last second. So we’re looking at a different Georgia Tech team than we all perceived in preseason. And then when you add Sims back to that team, they have a chance on offense as well. Would have been interesting to see him play against Clemson.”
