Georgia Tech star quarterback Jeff Sims announces plans to enter transfer portal

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were dealt a devastating dose of news that had been brewing for weeks on Sunday evening. Their star quarterback, Jeff Sims, officially announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal. It’s a brutal blow to the Yellow Jackets program, as they lost their two best players to the portal for the past two years, first it was running back Jahmyr Gibbs, and now Jeff Sims.

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— Jeff Sims (@JeffSims_10) November 27, 2022

Sims posted the announcement to enter the transfer portal on his Twitter page Sunday evening. He wrote, “I give all the glory to my lord and Savior Jesus Christ empowering me to play the sport that I love. I want to thank: Georgia Tech for giving me the opportunity to pursue my dream athletically and academically, my coaches for everything you have done for me, and the fans who supported me. I pray blessings over you all. To all my teammates…I love you guys! We have built lifelong bonds and for that I am grateful. I pray nothing but the best for all of you. After much prayer and discussions with my family, I have decided to enter the transfer portal. It was not an easy decision, however, I believe it is the right decision for me at this point in my career. Thanks for your prayers and support. God Bless!! #GoJackets–Jeff Sims #10″

The transfer portal is not officially open yet, but he can enter on December 5th.

Sims is one of the most dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks in all of college football and he’ll have no shortage of suitors in the transfer portal. In just seven games during the 2022 season, Sims completed 58.5% of his passes for 1,115 yards, while tossing in five touchdowns and three interceptions. As a runner, he had 87 carries for 302 yards on the ground, while scoring one touchdown. An explosive runner, the Florida native has rushed for over 300 yards during each of his first three seasons of college football.

He suffered a sprained foot in the second quarter of the Yellow Jackets’ game against the Virginia Cavaliers on October 20th. The injury forced the star quarterback to miss the final five games of the 2022 season. On November 15th, the previous Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key announced in his weekly press conference that Sims would be away from the team indefinitely. Key said that the decision was made with Sims and the team’s medical staff in order to be “in treatment and rehab now moving forward.”

The sad news of Sims’ departure comes on the heels of some excellent news that Georgia Tech fans learned on Sunday night.

There were reports on Sunday evening that the Yellow Jackets were targeting Willie Fritz as their new head football coach. If they can land him, Fritz would be a huge hire for Georgia Tech. He’s established himself as one of the brightest minds in college football the past few years and he’s propelled the Tulane Green Wave program to unprecedented heights. The Green Wave just recently defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats on November 25th, bringing Tulane their first ranked win over an AP ranked opponent since 1984.

If Fritz is hired at Georgia Tech, it’s highly likely that his first phone call would be to see if he could persuade Sims to stay with the Yellow Jackets. It’s important to note that any player that decides to enter the transfer portal can withdraw their name at any time.

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To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.