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Nebraska football hasn’t closed door on Jeff Sims starting Saturday

By Oliver Vandervoort

Aug 31, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Jeff Sims (7) hands the ball off to running back Gabe Ervin Jr. (22) against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first quarter at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 31, 2023; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Jeff Sims (7) hands the ball off to running back Gabe Ervin Jr. (22) against the Minnesota Golden Gophers during the first quarter at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nebraska football coaches still seem to be holding out hope that Jeff Sims could start for the Huskers against Northern Illinois on Saturday night.

Is Jeff Sims starting against Northern Illinois? That question has been asked at every coaching press conference since Saturday’s game against Colorado. So far the answer has been … maybe?

You can’t blame Nebraska football coaches for being careful. There’s likely more reasons than one for hedging their bets.

There’s the very real chance that Sims might not be fully recovered from a high ankle sprain he suffered late in the contest against the Buffs. Generally, it takes more than a week to really come back from that.

It’s certainly conceivable that it would take longer than a week for a quarterback who has relied as much as he has on his legs this season already. So of course the coaches are not wanting to rush him back.

The other reason why the Nebraska football staff might not be all-in on Sims coming back Saturday is because his presence hasn’t really been a net-positive so far.

By the end of the first half last Saturday, the consensus among Husker fans was that Sims needed to come out. He’d fumbled two snaps and thrown an interception. Those turnovers came one week after he threw three interceptions against Minnesota.

However, head coach Matt Rhule said that if Sims hadn’t gotten hurt, he’d have played the entire game. That didn’t sit well with fans.

Nebraska football might start a less than 100 percent Jeff Sims

While Husker fans were not thrilled that Rhule isn’t thinking about benching Sims, there’s a very obvious reason. It’s possible he and the rest of the Nebraska football coaching staff simply have no confidence in the guys behind him.

When the Rhulebuild entered 2023, it felt as though he had a stable of decent if not great QBs in Sims, Casey Thompson and Logan Smothers, as well as Heinrich Haarberg and Chubba Purdy.

Then Thompson and Smothers left and a solid if not spectacular bunch turned into a bunch of question marks.

It’s worth remembering that Rhule and Satterfield talked an awful lot this offseason about at least giving Haarberg some snaps at wide receiver. He had a catch against Minnesota. It feels like the staff isn’t convinced his future is as a signal caller.

It makes sense they don’t want him to start in what has become a game where the Nebraska football team both has to win, and probably can’t win in a nailbiter if it wants to calm nervous fans. And so, there’s still a chance that Jeff Sims will start, even if he’s not 100 percent healthy.

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