News

May 12, 2023

Tackling

The recruitment of Duncanville (Texas) High five-star edge rusher Colin Simmons

The recruitment of Duncanville (Texas) High five-star edge rusher Colin Simmons is about to kick back into high gear this weekend as the blue-chipper takes his first official visit of the process to Miami.

The return trip to Coral Gables begins what will be an awesome summer for the coveted pass rusher who according to his mother Monica McCarley has also scheduled an official to Alabama the weekend of June 16 and Texas the weekend of June 23.

In addition to those three official visits, a return to Oregon is locked in for June 20 for what will be a three-day unofficial. Texas A&M will get the family back July 28 for their big barbecue they annually host for coveted recruits. That's also an unofficial.

"He wants to do more officials during the season," McCarley added. "We don't have those scheduled yet.

"He wants to do LSU and Florida."

Tabbed by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 1 recruit in Texas and No. 1 edge rusher in the country, Simmons was last at LSU for the Tigers spring game.

"I love LSU," McCarley said. "LSU feels like home.

"We got a chance to meet a few celebrities at LSU which was Joe Burrow, we also met Angel Reese and (Ja’Marr Chase). We saw all three of those people and that was a highlight. Also they gave us a full tour this time as well. I loved it. I was able to bring Colin's friends with us and they also equally showed them a good time."

This upcoming trip to Miami will be the second time the family has made it to Coral Gables this calendar year.

"The one takeaway from that visit I appreciated was we got a chance to sit down with Jason Taylor and watch Colin's film and he was able to tell Colin everything he was doing wrong," McCarley said. "I could appreciate that."

Taylor is a guy Simmons could see himself playing for.

"Because he's played the position Colin is playing currently it meant a lot," McCarley said of the NFL Hall of Famer.

Simmons has always included Alabama in his lead group. He visited on a college tour last summer.

"He's been saying mom I want to go back, we just haven't been able to make that trip," McCarley said. "He's always wanted to go back."

Texas has made sure the family knows how important Simmons is to them.

"I love the coaching staff at Texas," McCarley said. "Sark is amazing. (Jeff) Banks is amazing. I got a chance to meet a lot of position coaches. Texas just shows a lot of love to us every time we go."

Oregon has made a nice impression to date in this recruitment.

"I love Oregon," McCarley said. "It's a great place. The city is nice. We did a tour around campus. I want to walk the grounds. I want him to get a feel of the actual, we went in the spring there weren't that many students around. I want to get a gut feeling about the place."

Texas A&M is another program Simmons has kept under strong consideration.

"A&M has always been a top school for him as well," McCarley said. "We visited A&M back in January of 2022 so I’m kind of excited to see what's going on now. That was a year and a half ago almost. They’ve hired some new coaches. I want to get a feel for them as well."

The one place McCarley hasn't been yet is Florida. Simmons enjoyed his time there in the spring.

"He did say he loved the energy that the fans gave to the players," McCarley said.

As electric a defensive player as there is in the country, Simmons racked up 79 tackles as a junior including 33 stops for loss and 22.5 sacks en route to a state championship. Simmons tallied another 45 quarterback hurries.