Kenny Dillingham praises Jeff Sims’ decision to stay at ASU ahead of Utah game
As Jeff Sims is slated to start against Utah on Saturday, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham praised Sims' decision to return to the Sun Devils this season.
Watch: Kenny Dillingham says it would be 'mini miracle' for ASU QB Sam Leavitt to play vs. Utah | 10 mins
As Arizona State quarterback Jeff Sims is slated to start in place of Sam Leavitt against Utah on Saturday, head coach Kenny Dillingham took a moment on Friday to praise Sims’ decision to return to the program this season.
“Jeff could’ve gone to a lot of places and been a starting quarterback and he said ‘no I want to come here and stay in this system here. I like it here and enjoy it here and I’m gonna get my opportunity’ and this is his opportunity,” Dillingham told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta.
Dillingham said that he’s been familiar with Sims’ playstyle since the beginning of his college career and he coached against the sixth-year quarterback when he was coaching at Florida State and Sims was at Georgia Tech.
“He makes explosive plays, which he has done in early in his career,” Dillingham said. “My first game at Florida State I lost to Jeff Sims as the offensive coordinator in his first game in college football. Now I’m on his side and the gameplan is not changing and we got a lot of confidence in Jeff.”
In his first ever college football start against Florida State in 2020, Sims completed 23 of 24 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown and added 64 yards on the ground as the Yellow Jackets beat the Seminoles, 16-13.
Sims has thrown 705 passes in six college seasons for Georgia Tech, Nebraska and ASU.
He previously started for the Sun Devils against Cincinnati last season, throwing for 155 yards and 23 pass attempts and rushing for 53 yards in a 24-14 loss.
Dillingham added that he is very confident in Sims’ ability to step up in Leavitt’s absence and that the team will rally behind him.
“I’m excited for him and I think our football team is excited for him and I think they are gonna play as hard as they possibly can for him,” Dillingham said.
Graham Rossini confident in Jeff Sims’ ability to step in for ASU
ASU athletic director Graham Rossini also spoke highly on Friday of Sims’ ability to step for the Sun Devils, saying the team has adopted a next man up mentality and he has the ability to excel for ASU on Saturday.
“This is where the depth of your roster really comes to play,” Rossini said on Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Friday. “Jeff Sims is talented at a high Division I level. While he hasn’t played a lot at ASU, he’s been an integral part of this team and could have gone to a lot of places in the last transfer portal but he wanted to come back.
“We’re in that next man up mentality and I can tell you his teammates love him. His coaches love him and they’re excited that he’s got an opportunity to step in while Sam is down this weekend and he’ll be ready to go come kickoff tomorrow.”
“I can tell you his teammates love him. His coaches love him and they’re excited that he’s got an opportunity to step in while Sam (Leavitt) is down this weekend.”
ASU athletic director Graham Rossini details how confident the Sun Devils are in Jeff Sims’ ability to step up… pic.twitter.com/QwqIIGSgmX
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) October 10, 2025
Catch ASU-Utah on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. MST on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. It will be televised on ESPN.
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Comments
4 Comments
I should start off saying that I'm become much more optimistic about ASU's chance vs Utah on Saturday Night, than I was when I found out Sam Leavitt wouldn't play. Over the last 48 hours I've been talking with a couple old friends, who have regularly attended ASU's practices since Dilly took over. My friends were excited to tell me how much faith they have in Jeff Sims this week, especially if ASU ends up playing on a bad field in bad weather as predicted. They tell me the progress Sims has made since last year's game @ Cincinnati is beyond impressive.
This off-season Sims has becomes infinitely more familiar with the playbook/ offense, and has much better mechanics (timing). Sims has been known for having a cannon for an arm going back to his days at Georgia Tech. Like almost every QB, Sims has benefitted from being able to repeatedly throw to his receiver corp, learning how they run their routes, learning where they like the catch the ball, and, in general, working on improving their timing. This off-season Sims would regularly show off his arm with 50-60 yard bombs that he was able to put right-on-his-receivers. Sims has seriously large hands, which really helps a QB hold onto a wet ball in bad weather. Jeff Sims ran a versatile, run-heavy offense at Georgia Tech (2020-2022) while at Nebraska (2023) the offense was built more around his abilities as a dual-threat. Both schemes featured run-pass options (RPO), as well as plays under center or in the spread.
This year's Utah team has been vulnerable at DT, probably because of their lack of experience. But the even bigger vulnerability is Utah's Entire Secondary, who've been hurt by play action. Bottom line, Sims skills are well suited to attacking where Utah is vulnerable.
IMHO, ASU while really wants to get a quick start, I expect Dilly will be conservative if the weather and field conditions really suck The exact offense Dilly wil run IMHO will be dependent upon the weather and the condition of the field. If it's pouring, and the field is not good, I would expect ASU to go heavy RPO with Sims. ASU's has bigger, stronger, faster RBs. Raleek Brown should be the best RB on the field Saturday.
But if the weather isn't too bad, right out of the gate, I expect Utah will cheat their Back 7, who plays primarily zone out of a 4-3 base, playing all 7 closer to the LOS, and near the box, to thwart ASU's running game. If ASU can have first down success, perhaps with a quick out to Jordyn Tyson (Utah will not be game-planning for Sims to throw on 1st Down early), and get into 2nd and short, I believe Dilly will then go play-action with Sims, trying to get the DBs to step up, then take the top off with either Jalen Ross, Hamilton or perhaps even Eusebio, all of whom should be able to get behind the Utah DBs.
Sure hope I'm right.
Gonna have to be run heavy anyway, so i give us a puncher's chance
I have no doubt Sims loves the team and is a team player and the kid will always be a Sun Devil. And I’ll absolutely be rooting for him tomorrow night! But i’m not holding out much hope based on the circumstances. Just super bad timing.