TUSCALOOSA -- In an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday morning, former Alabama quarterback Blake Sims revealed that he spent time as a scout-team signal call during the Crimson Tide’s prep for Texas A&M.

You read that correctly. And head coach Nick Saban confirmed it Tuesday evening.

“Blake just got released so he was looking for some place to work so he had a chance to get better,” Saban said. “Based on our situation at quarterback and the kind of guy we were playing against, it was really convenient to have him here to help us last week.”

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Sims was able to emulate Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight, who, just like Sims, was a dual-threat quarterback, in practice. Because of NCAA bylaw 14.2.1.6, Sims was able to return to his alma mater -- after a short stint on the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad -- and help the 2016 Alabama team prepare for a top-six matchup with the Aggies. The bylaw states:

“A former student at the certifying institution (e.g., former student-athlete) may participate in an organized practice session on an occasional basis, provided the institution does not publicize the participation of the former student at any time before the practice session.”

Knowing the NCAA rulebook allowed the Tide to do this, and because of it, Knight was held to 164 passing yards, a 45-percent completion percentage (14-of-31) and 24 rushing yards inside Bryant-Denny Stadium in Alabama’s 33-14 win.

“We try to stay on top of the rules,” Saban said. “We have people in our administration who do a good job of letting us know what we can and can’t do and we would never do something like that unless we got it approved by the SEC office, which we did, and the NCAA. I think it was helpful to Blake.”

Just like the rest of us, the Crimson Tide players were unaware the NCAA bylaw existed before Saturday and were shocked to see Sims trot onto the practice field in full uniform a week ago. Having that as a resource, though, proved to be beneficial.

“I think it helped out a lot,” senior defensive end Jonathan Allen said after the game. “It was great practice for us. I was surprised. I didn’t even know you could do that.”

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