Exactly five days after announcing his intent to transfer from Alabama, and a couple of days after his former high school coach created a bit of controversy, Phillip Sims is not so unexpectedly headed back to his home state.
In a press release, Virginia officially confirmed that the former Chesapeake, Va., high school quarterback has decided to transfer from the Cavaliers. In the immediate aftermath of his decision to leave the Tide, it was widely speculated that UVa would ultimately be the place he would land to continue his collegiate career.
“Virginia football welcomes Phillip Sims to our family,” said Virginia head coach Mike London. “Hopefully he will have a productive career her at UVa as his previous accolades have shown.”
The school did not address whether or not Sims would seek a hardship waiver that would allow him to play immediately, although his Oscar Smith High School coach did the player no favors on that front.
Sims came to Tuscaloosa as a much-hyped four-star member of the Tide’s 2010 recruiting class, rated as the No. 2 pro-style quarterback by Rivals.com. After redshirting as a true freshman, Sims and A.J. McCarron waged a battle for the starting job that commenced in spring practice last year and technically continued into the very early portion of the 2011 regular season.
With McCarron firmly entrenched as the Tide’s starter for the next two seasons after leading UA to the school’s second BcS title in three years last year, Sims opted to take his leave of the program for what he described in a statement as “a personnel personal matter.”
In eight games as a redshirt freshman in 2011, Sims completed 64 percent of his passes for 163 yards.