ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL KICKOFF

July 21, 2021

Jeff Sims

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. A lot of people watch your tape, looking at it I've heard a lot of comparisons to Lamar Jackson. How do you feel about getting that kind of comparison to a league MVP and a guy that's so electric and a dual-threat in the league?

JEFF SIMS: It's definitely something that I look at and just smile at. At the end of the day, I don't like being compared to anybody because I feel like I'm my own player. But being compared to a player like that is definitely an honor because in my eyes he's a great player, he's one of the quarterbacks that I look up to. Yeah, that's an honor to be compared to him.

Q. What are we going to see the biggest jump from year one, year two when it comes to Jeff Sims?

JEFF SIMS: Just a more comfortable feel for me, just going out there and playing ball how I've been doing since I was seven, not thinking as much, just going out there and having fun, doing what I do.

Q. The center plays a big role in getting the offense started before the snap. What have you seen from your center improvement from last year to this year?

JEFF SIMS: Yeah, with both Mikey and Will, they're both great workers. They keep their head down and they work. They're in the film room learning a lot. They just make sure everything runs smoothly, making sure they know the protection, making sure they run the offensive line, making sure everything's orchestrated.

Q. What are two things you've worked on the most that you feel like is going to make a difference come game time this fall?

JEFF SIMS: One of the biggest things I've worked on this off-season was getting better mentally, staying in the film room, learning all I can. That's one big thing that you will definitely need as a quarterback.

Then the second thing would be my accuracy, just working on those mechanics, staying accurate and being consistent.

Q. Five rushing touchdowns for the season last year, 53 yards rushed per game. Ground game and air attack are obviously physically different. What is it about preparing for running and throwing that might be mentally different?

JEFF SIMS: When you're preparing for running and throwing, I mean, at the end of the day you are going to have to know you're going to have to run. Just preparing yourself for that, knowing there's going to be situations where you got to get out of the pocket and make a play...

Q. For you last season, you don't have fans out there. What did you take away from that? What are you most looking forward to?

JEFF SIMS: It was definitely a lot to learn from last year. There was definitely a lot of things that I watched from last year that helps me improve this year.

Just looking back on last year, I'm glad I got that opportunity to get my feet wet, get that experience under my belt to come harder for the second year.

Q. Last year 13 interceptions. How do you mentally kind of discipline yourself not to take those chances and secure the football more?

JEFF SIMS: Yeah, that's something that definitely has been in my head a lot last year and this year just because I'm very hard on myself. That to me is very unacceptable.

So just going out there and going in the film room, watching like how I made those mistakes last year, what happened on those plays to lead to those. Just going in there, fixing that, getting those mental reps.

Q. Coach talked about the importance of improving efficiency in the red zone. As the quarterback, what falls to you to make sure if you don't get the seven, at least you get the three?

JEFF SIMS: Really everything falls to me because I control the offense, I control what goes on. So just from an execution standpoint we just got to get better at that.

That's something that we've worked on in the spring. We'll have red zone periods in practice where we work on just scoring the ball, making sure that we executing in the red zone, not make as many mistakes.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.