8 Days Until Kansas Football: Video Game All-Star Reader Picks: Steven Sims & Fish Smithson
The return of the NCAA Football video game is scheduled for next summer, and that gives us the perfect opportunity to highlight some players that didn't get an opportunity to appear in the series during it's hiatus.
Thanks to a rating system that includes individualized ratings of college players that we discussed on the Rock Chalk Podcast, we are able to correct that oversight. This rating combines their base talent level with their actual college production to come up with an overall look at their performance.
A reminder that our Video Game All-Stars series will look at recent Kansas players who played well at Kansas but never got an opportunity to be captured with a virtual version of themselves. We will look back at their careers, and include a projection of what their overall rating would have been had the games been around.
The season is quickly approaching, and that means we are running out of time to highlight some of the best recent players to wear the crimson and blue in Memorial Stadium. And before we conclude, I wanted to make sure that we had a chance to look at some of your favorites that may not have made my cutoff. We have two of those today that were requested by multiple readers, and they would be WR Steven Sims and S Fish Smithson.
With two players to cover, we'll do an abbreviated look at both of these players before we get into the ratings.
Other Player Spotlights in this series:
Daniel Wise
Mike Lee
Joe Dineen
Andrew Parchment
Pooka Williams
Hasan Defense
Dorance Armstrong
Bryce Torneden
Hakeem Adeniji
Steven Sims Overview
Recruiting Rankings
Steven Sims Jr. was a 5'10", 176 lb 3-star recruit out of Fort Bend Travis High School in Richmond, TX. He was not a highly sought-after recruit, as the Jayhawks were his only Power 5 offer, but he was initially expected to be quality depth with a big upside due to his speed. He was signed to the 2015 recruiting class after a recruitment that was led by wide receivers coach Klint Kubiak.
Production at Kansas
| Season | Receptions | Yards | Average | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 30 | 349 | 11.6 | 2 |
2016 | 72 | 859 | 11.9 | 7 |
2017 | 59 | 839 | 14.2 | 6 |
2018 | 53 | 535 | 10.1 | 4 |
Sim's best season arguably came in 2016, when he was the focal point of the passing game but also unknown enough to avoid the massive amount of attention he received in his final two season. However, his junior year was also very productive, with the overall yardage only marginally lower on significantly less catches.
Either way, Sims was a reliable receiver in his time in Lawrence, but the lack of consistent help at the position made it hard for him to really show what he was capable of.
Best Game
There is really only one game that stands out here, and with two players to look at today, I'm going to limit it to the single game. As I mentioned above, the lack of consistent help at the wide receiver position made it difficult for him to have huge breakout games routinely. Also, when he had big games, it was very likely that he was the main option that was performing, and he wasn't really enough to drag the Jayhawks to victory on his own. His best game is a perfect example:
October 28, 2017: 30-20 Loss vs Kansas State
Stat line: 9 receptions for 233 yards (25.9 average), 1 touchdown.
Sims had a fantastic game, but the only other offensive weapon in this game was Tyler Patrick, who totaled 72 yards on 3 receptions. Other than that, the game was characterized by offensive miscues that ended drives and led directly to Kansas State points. The defense kind of kept this one close, but a kickoff return for a touchdown to take the lead immediately after Kansas opened the scoring set the tone and the team couldn't catch back up.
After Kansas
Sims was not selected in the 2019 NFL Draft, but signed with Washington as an undrafted free agent. He made it through camp and stuck around the entire season, finishing 2019 with 34 receptions for 310 yard and 4 touchdowns.
2020 saw him get an expanded role out of camp, but an injury put him on IR after week three. He returned in time to play 12 regular season games, and caught the only touchdown pass in Washington's Wild Card loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He was released prior to the 2021 season, and has since signed a reserve contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the upcoming season.
Fish Smithson Overview
Recruiting Rankings
Anthony "Fish" Smithson was a 5-11 185lb 3-star recruit who transferred to Kansas from Hartnell College as part of the 2014 class. He originally played cornerback in college, but his transition to safety helped give him a role in a Kansas defense was paper thin in the defensive backs. Kansas was his only offer, and his recruitment was led by Dave Campo.
Production at Kansas
| Season | Total Tackles | Solo Tackles | Passes Defended | Sacks | Fumbles Forced | Interceptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | 111 | 87 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
2016 | 93 | 70 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
It's hard to pick one of his two seasons as the better one, because they each showed a different side of the game that he played. He aggregated a lot more tackles in his first season, but his ball skills noticeably improved going into his final season, something that was reflected in the increase in interceptions.
Smithson earned All-Big 12 honors in both of his seasons, being named to the 2nd team in 2015 and the 1st team in 2016.
Best Game
His best game is likely a no-brainer for most Kansas fans. While it wasn't the highest tackle total or the longest interception return, his impact in this game was huge and lead to the most memorable game of the David Beaty tenure
November 19, 2016: 24-21 OT Win vs Texas
Stat line: 12 tackles, 10 solo tackles, 1 interception.
Smithson got the first interception in a string of Texas turnovers, which allowed the Jayhawks to go into halftime with a 10-7 lead.
While Smithson didn't have another huge play like that in the second half, he teamed up with fellow safety Mike Lee to absolutely blanket receivers and keep Texas from finding big plays to build momentum
After Kansas
Smithson went undrafted in the 2017 NFL Draft, but signed with Washington as an undrafted free agent before spending the majority of the season on the practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster for a single game to end the season, and was waived during the final round of roster cuts before the 2018 season.
He spent time on the practice squad with multiple teams for the 2018 season, but ultimately saw his career end after going on the injured reserve with the Baltimore Ravens leading up to the 2019 season.
Video Game Ratings
Steven Sims
Base Rating: 74
Production Bonus: 11
Total Rating: 85
The low base rating for Sims wasn't actually the worst of the players in this series, but the struggles that he had with a lack of help to put up dominant performances kept him from really excelling in the production category. However, he still rates out to be a worthy inclusion.
Fish Smithson
Base Rating: 70
Production Bonus: 10
Total Rating: 80
The ratings aren't quite as kind to Smithson, but that production number looks a lot better when you consider that he only had two season to compile that production. He was a solid option for the Jayhawks that helped them through some tough times, but unfortunately that won't win him a lot of individual recognition.
While the ratings we have are not broken down into the individual attributes that you would typically see in a game like the Madden series, it is possible to guess which attributes would be the highest. For Sims, I think I would give speed and agility as his highest ratings, while Smithson would likely get strength and awareness as his highest.
A reminder that our video game ratings are provided by CFB Winning Edge, which is an independent outlet focused on college football analytics that has developed team, player and coach ratings based on a wide range of current and historical data.
Patreon supporters have access to their FBS Team Profiles, which includes ratings for over 11,000 individual players across all 131 FBS teams, as well as ratings for every head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, and strength of schedule metrics. In addition to stats, recruiting data, injury reports, and player movement information, they also offer three sets of projected point spreads for every FBS game based on separate projection models, as well as projected win totals.
You can find more information about what they offer by going to their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CFBWinningEdge
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