Excerpts: The NFL scout tells the story of traveling to the University of Texas to study tape on the long line of Longhorns pro prospects, popping a copy of the Oklahoma game into the machine and turning his discerning eye to the quarterback without a fighting chance for success. For three seasons, nothing changed: Same simplistic schemes, same vertical routes, same fallout for Chris Simms, cursed with the fallout as a big-game failure. Chris Simms says the offense he ran at Texas didn't allow him to grow as a quarterback. "Hang in there," the scout told Simms. "We see what's happening here." --- "You saw Carson Palmer and USC's offense," Simms said, "and they were doing everything. They had guys going in every direction. He got to make a lot of different throws. Same with Byron Leftwich. Their offense is wide open. He was getting to throw 50 times a game. --- For now, he's projected as a second- to fourth-round pick, but as one NFL executive says, "I'm still trying to understand how much of his trouble against great defenses in college was him, and how much was his coaching ... because his tools and his makeup are just too impressive to believe that the pressure just paralyzed this kid." I wish Simms would have said this months ago. It does us no good now. --- "I wish it had been different my sophomore year," Simms said. "We lost to OU 63-14. I didn't get into the game until it was 35-0. After that, they picked Major as the starter. I wish they had picked me as the starter. Because the season was lost at that point. We had lost to Oklahoma and we had lost to Stanford. We weren't going to win the national championship. I was really hoping they would make me the starter so I could get more experience for the next year. "They knew there was more upside (with me). As soon as we got done with that bowl game after my sophomore year, they told me, 'You're going to be the starter next year. Don't worry about it.' So, if you knew that all year, why didn't I play the last five games and let me get some experience?" Simms forgets Major's knee injury in the bowl game which is probably why the coaches told him he'd be the starter in 2001. --- "It came close, really close, to changing me," Simms said. "Last year, I was in a bad mood all the time. I was angry at a lot of people. I was angry at this place, the coaches, the people. ... I was bitter about everything in the world. It almost did get the best of me. I just wanted to leave here and say, 'To hell with this place.'" More than people ever knew, he had come close to leaving Texas as a junior and turning pro. "The Big 12 title game ruined any chance I had," Simms confessed, and rest assured, it was for the best. I wonder if Simms would still go to UT if he knew all the **** that would happen. --- Full article: http://espn.go.com/ncf/columns/wojnarowski_adrian/1492027.html
Good riddance you overhyped, spoiled twit. These last two years with you as the starter could not have passed by any slower for some of us Longhorn supporters. Enjoy your role as the newest NFL clipboard holder...hell, you'll probably fumble it too.
Did you even bother to read the article, or did the mere sight of the word "Simms" in the thread title cause you to copy & paste a stock response?
I thought this article kind of made Simms sound like the loser he has proved himself to be over the last couple of years.
What did Simms have to say about the Texas offense, same players, same scheme, same coaches, looking so much better with The Major running the show?
What bull****. I'm the biggest Simms supporter there is, but the guy that beat him, Jason White was a sophmore who never started. As for coaching, not news to me. Stoops has said our offense is less complicated than alot of high schools. Davis must go. But, that quote by Chris was kind of weak. Oh, and don't think every big 12 coach hasn't emailed this article to potential recruits.
It's nice to know that he thinks the QB has to throw the ball 50 times per game to win in football...
The main point I would like to point out to any recruits is what he says about the coaches. What do they try and sell you, something about one big happy family, yeah right. That and how supportive the loyal fans are (see above).
After that, they picked Major as the starter. I wish they had picked me as the starter. Because the season was lost at that point. We had lost to Oklahoma and we had lost to Stanford. We weren't going to win the national championship. What a load of crap. So fighting for a B12 championship wasn't a goal? We should have just given up the year with the intent to get him experience?
you're right...the more you read the worse it sounds... sour grapes..blaming someone else for shortcomings....can't wait to spend a draft pick annointing him my team's leader.
These 2 paragraphs don't sit well with me. Simms sounds like a pompous, arrogant brat, IMO. The season is never "lost." You play your heart out and hope like hell you get a lucky break. I guarantee that Simms would have whined like a baby if after this year's loss to Texas Tech (where the season was thus "lost"), Mack started Mock or Young at QB instead of him to get his young QBs "more experience." You can't have it both ways, Chris. Plus, it's not like Major was some scrub QB at the time, either, during the 2000 season.
I really wish Simms had spoken up about the inept playcalling earlier. Everyone agrees with him, but he kept quiet during the season when we could have used his voice.
I no longer hate Simms and have finally come to a conclusion of what about he bothers me so much. This may help explain others anger towards him. Its really quite simple for at least the last 5 years the hype generated by the media and UT fans has been unbearable. Many said stuff like he was supposed to be the next great QB and a minimum be a strong heisman candidate. When turned out to be a good QB with a few flaws the excuses that the media and fans made were really annoying. I know all this has been said before but Simms was a very good but not great QB that did not live up to his potential. If a coach can firgure this guy out he could do great things.
The fact that he hasn't come out with a big "**** YOU" to the majority of UT fans is why I still respect him.
I wish he would. He had some many opportunities but he choked them away. Wouldn't it be awesome if he had said **** you right after winning the Big 12 then declaring for the draft?
I wish it would've happened. I wish our defense didn't suck ass in big games this year and he could've done it then too.
This article caused the biggest debate on the Austin AM sports radio show since I started listening many years ago. I don't know if his remarks were off the cuff or calculated. Whoever mentioned recruiting is right, this article will surely be passed around by rivals to every recruit that visits us. I guess Chris got the last laugh after all those years of disrespect by fans.
He sure did. The fans will get what they deserve if it affects recruiting. Why anyone in their right mind would come to UT after seeing how Mack Brown botched that controversy and how the fans reacted to it, I'll never know.
