Yall teachers :Scustbrutus: The people from your city harassing a high school kid :Scustbrutus:
As you’d imagine, Simmons’ recruitment has had some interesting moments. The country’s 19th-ranked linebacker is, as he tweeted earlier this week, in a unique position in his hometown.
While there’s likely to be no actual physical harm inflicted on Simmons, being smack dab in the middle of the rivalry – and I can’t find a single player in the last 40 years from Ann Arbor to commit to Ohio State other than him – has Simmons drawing some ridiculous crossfire from Michigan fans.
Check out, for example, this tweet in response to message Simmons posted:
That’s from a stranger, online. So, while it is a vile and inappropriate retort from someone who likely claims to be an adult, it can easily be shrugged off. But when the barbs come from peers in high school, or from your teachers? Well, that’s when things get a touch more difficult to swallow.
“During my last home game (at Pioneer),” Simmons shared with Land of 10, “the crowd started chanting ‘decommit from Ohio State and commit to Michigan.’ All the students that are diehard Michigan fans tell me all the time I need to be in maize and blue.”
That sounds like nothing but good old-fashioned jeering, but that’s not always the case.
“It’s gotten worse throughout the year as (Michigan) gets ‘back.’ I got harassed by a teacher twice on the same day a few weeks ago during school,” he said. “She said my Ohio State shirt was hideous and that I was an ‘idiot’ for choosing Ohio State and kept going on and on about how dumb I was. The first time she did it, I couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious. Then I saw her later in the day, and she said the same exact thing.
“The students are joking, but the crowd thing was definitely serious. My teacher? She was dead serious.”
The irony, of course, is that for Simmons, Michigan has never really been a major factor in his recruitment. If he didn’t commit to Ohio State in March, it likely would’ve been Notre Dame. Recently, he’s visited Michigan State, and some speculation about a potential flip to the Spartans exists. But as for Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines?
“They don’t really come to Pioneer,” Simmons said.
Ohio State, though, did come to Pioneer. The efforts of defensive backs coach Kerry Coombs, who has become one of the Detroit area’s most respected college recruiters, opened that door. Simmons said he knows that as Michigan moves more and more into the national spotlight (again), it will get harder and harder for Coombs to convince other Michigan prep products to join him in Columbus. But the door is still open.
“If Coombs can come up here and get one, it’s worth it,” he said. “Guys are open to going to Ohio State, it but it’s definitely not easy. Programs like Detroit Cass Tech and Martin Luther King? Those are powerhouses that are pipelines to Michigan. You know its hard to get guys from there, but it’s worth it.”
So what made it happen for Simmons? He does have a Michigan offer. He grew up there and his family is full of Wolverines fans. One thing that helped Ohio State? His head coach at Pioneer, Jari Brown, didn’t try and steer him toward Michigan, like many of that area’s high school coaches do.
“My coach didn’t push or try to sway me in the direction toward any school,” Simmons said. “He was just there to support me and help me. All of my family are Michigan or Michigan State fans, but they understand why I chose Ohio State. They know where (Urban) Meyer is taking the team. My mom and dad are Buckeyes though. They were before I was.
“My dad use to hang out in Columbus in his younger days. He loves Columbus. Mom has loved coach Meyer since his Florida days. She loves all the coaches at Ohio State. She really loves what type of people they are, you know? That’s why my family is happy for me, even though a lot of them are fans of the teams up here.”
Life isn’t easy for a future member of the Buckeyes living in Ann Arbor, but it will be a lot easier for Simmons if his future team can take care of business on Saturday. In just under three months, he’ll be signed, sealed and ready to be delivered to Columbus, Ohio.
Home, they say, is where the heart is. It’s not always where you live.
Sounds like Daelin Hayes. If there were to be a casting for a Linebacker, Daelin would be perfect. Thats about it. Not Wolverine caliber #meritocracy