Sims was ranked No. 5 tight end recruit in the country
Sims was a significant catch for the Spartans' 2009 recruiting class, as the Orchard Lake St. Mary's product ranked as the No. 5 tight end in the country by rivals.com.
Sims was also a basketball star, finishing fourth in the Mr. Basketball Award voting as a senior.
Sims, despite a knee injury that caused him to miss most of his senior football season, had no shortage of scholarship offers. He chose the Spartans over Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee, Miami (Fla.), Iowa, Louisville and Purdue.
In his first season at MSU, Sims was a regular part of the offensive rotation, appearing in all 13 games. He had 11 catches for 133 yards as a backup and scored three touchdowns. He made the Sporting News' and Rivals.com's All-Freshman Big Ten team for his efforts.
Sims briefly joined Tom Izzo's basketball team after the football season, but played in only one game. Izzo told reporters in mid-February that Sims had left the squad to focus solely on football.
As part of a deep tight end group, Sims was expected to contribute significantly this season. However, he did not take the field in the first three games. He did appear on the depth chart and suited up for those games, but did not play.
When asked Sept. 5 about Sims' absence from the opener ? the previous day, against Western Michigan ? football coach Mark Dantonio gave a terse response.
"I'm not gonna talk about injuries and I'm not gonna talk about players that don't play," he said. "In all fairness to this football team ... status changes, guys get themselves in situations, guys get themselves injured, they don't play because of what they did during the week in terms of preparation. There's so many different factors, and it's in constant change."
