What happened to Blake Sims, the former (and underrated) Alabama quarterback whose lone season under center gave fans electrifying moments and ushered in a new era of offense in Tuscaloosa?

AL.com’s sports video team produced a video updating fans on where Sims is today, noting people might forget about him because he didn’t win a national championship under Nick Saban and gets lost in the shuffle after future NFL stars like Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones played after him. Watch it above.

The star high school quarterback from Gainesville, Georgia, signed as an athlete with Alabama with the expectation that he would play either wide receiver or defensive back before the team developed him as a running back. In 2012, Sims swapped to quarterback and would back up star QB AJ McCarron the next two seasons before beating out former Florida State transfer Jake Coker for the starting gig in the 2014 season.

Under first-year Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, Sims broke Alabama’s single-season passing record with 3,487 yards and 28 touchdowns, a record previously held by McCarron. Sims’ senior season saw some thrilling moments including a 43-yard touchdown run in a rout of Texas A&M, and some fourth quarter heroics at LSU where Bama won in overtime after an unlikely last-minute drive and (with Amari Cooper) in an Iron Bowl shootout win inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Sims would complete 23 of 27 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns in Alabama’s 42-13 win over Missouri in the SEC Championship Game, where he earned MVP honors. He led Alabama to a berth in the inaugural College Football Playoff, where they would fall to Ohio State in the semifinal.

So what happened next for Sims after a memorable single season as the Crimson Tide’s signal-caller?

He attended the NFL Draft Combine, but he was ultimately not drafted in 2015. He tried out for the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Commanders but did not make either roster.

Sims then signed with and played for the Toronto Argonauts and Saskatchewan Roughriders for very brief stints in the Canadian Football League.

In 2016, he joined the emerging National Gridiron League in Australia where he hoped to play for the Wollongong Devils until the league never got off the ground.

Sims took another crack at the NFL in 2016 and 2017, signing with the practice squads for the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he was waived by both.

He returned to Alabama where he was selected in the second round of the quarterback draft to the Birmingham Iron in the Alliance of American Football League.

In 2021, Sims started a game for the Spokane Shock in an Indoor Football League game against the Sioux Falls Storm. He ran for three touchdowns and passed for another in the Shock’s 46-35 victory over the Storm in Spokane, Washington. With less than a minute left in the game, Sims ran for a 26-yard touchdown to seal the victory. On the field after the game, Sims remembered the win was his first as a starting quarterback since Alabama defeated Missouri 42-13 in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 6, 2014. “I’m just happy. I mean, I got tears in my eyes,” he said. “I’m holding it back right now, but I’m just happy, man. I’m happy.”

His final stint at playing football came in 2022 with the Frisco Fighters in the Indoor Football League.

In February 2022, via Twitter Spaces with Paul Finebaum, he retired from football. Finebaum asked Sims how a guy retires at his age, saying “You’re too young to retire.” Sims said, “Yeah, but God uses us in special ways.” The Frisco Fighters’ official website published an article celebrating Sims’ contribution to the organization, calling him an “unselfish” player willing to do anything to help the team win.

In March 2023, Sims was named offensive coordinator for Mount Bethel Christian Academy in Marietta, Georgia. Frisco Fighters head coach Billy Back said about Sims’ future in coaching, “There’s different ways of going about to motivate kids.

“He understands personalities. Some kids need patted on the back, some need to be yelled at…He’s pretty good at finding those things when it comes to a player.”