A day after head coach Kenny Dillingham announced that redshirt sophomore quarterback Sam Leavitt would have season-ending foot surgery, senior Jeff Sims stepped up in a big way in Leavitt’s absence, leading the charge in a road victory over Iowa State.
“How about Jeff Sims?” Dillingham said postgame. “How about that performance?”
After a standout 2024 season as a redshirt freshman, Leavitt entered the 2025 campaign as one of the most highly touted quarterbacks in all of college football. A potential Heisman candidate, Leavitt was perhaps the most pivotal member of this team.
However, Leavitt’s season has been riddled by a lingering foot injury. The star signal caller was initially injured against Baylor in week three, but was able to remain in the game. He played the following week in a home win over TCU, but aggravated the injury in that contest.
Leavitt had to sit out the next matchup at Utah. After the Sun Devils were trounced by the Utes, the quarterback returned to the field the following week and helped upset No. 7 Texas Tech.
“The dude’s a battler; he’s a competitor; he’s a fighter,” Dillingham said about Leavitt. “He wants to do everything he can to get on that field for his team.”
In this win, however, Leavitt aggravated the foot injury once again. While he was able to finish the game, Dillingham later announced that Leavitt would require foot surgery that would sideline him for the remainder of the season.
After this demoralizing news, as well as the last-minute decision that star redshirt junior wide receiver Jordan Tyson would miss the game Saturday against Iowa State with a hamstring injury, the next man up, Sims, had a difficult job to step into on the road.
Sims didn’t back down from the challenge. He led the ASU offense to a victory over Iowa State with 228 rushing yards, a new program record for a quarterback. The team’s second leading rusher was junior running back Raleek Brown with just 64.
“Jeff was all-in on doing whatever he could to win that football game,” Dillingham said.
In the passing game, Sims went 13-for-24 for 177 yards. Sims had one interception, which Dillingham took the blame for in his postgame press conference.
The performance is a major turnaround for Sims, who struggled mightily in his last start. In a loss at Utah on October 11, Sims finished 18-for-38 in the passing game for 124 yards and had only 66 rushing yards.
He was elated to get back on track for his team.
“It means everything,” Sims said. “I love these guys.”
It wasn’t an easy game for the Sun Devils or for Sims. In addition to his interception, the veteran quarterback also fumbled twice, both of which were recovered by the Cyclones.
Turnovers are a familiar woe for Sims. While he had only turned the ball over once in his 10 games with ASU coming into Saturday’s matchup with Iowa State, the first four years of Sims’ career were riddled with turnovers, totaling 41 turnovers in his first 30 collegiate games.
Sims was determined to win, even if it wasn’t the cleanest game.
“I was prepared to do whatever it was to win for this team,” Sims said.
Dillingham believed in Sims’ resilience as well.
“That was the definition of battling by that kid,” Dillingham said.
This is also a theme present among the ASU team as a whole. Dillingham’s squad has struggled all season with things like penalties, special teams, and red zone execution.
The team has also battled a number of key injuries and an emotional roller coaster of a season. Still, Dillingham and his squad haven’t been daunted by the challenges of the season.
“Excuses are like armpits,” Dillingham said. “Everybody has them, and they all stink.”
Sims has been a journeyman in his college career. He originally committed to Florida State, but flipped his commitment to Georgia Tech after the Seminoles made a coaching change.
Sims earned the starting role for the Yellow Jackets and played in all 10 games of the 2020 season. He stayed with Georgia Tech for his next two seasons, but took a step backward, playing in just seven games in each of those two seasons.
After the 2022 season, Sims transferred to Nebraska. He got the starting job with the Cornhuskers as well, but his 2023 season didn’t go according to plan. Sims struggled with both injury and poor performance, and lost the starting job, playing in only five games.
Sims then transferred to ASU for the 2024 season, where he served as the backup to Leavitt until the quarterback went down for the remainder of the 2025 season.
The journey for Sims has been far from linear, but he’s starting to make the most out of his sixth and final year of college football.
“It’s a blessing; that’s all I can say,” Sims said.