Austin Simmons has at all times been on the quick monitor. The quarterback educated with NFL gamers when he was 12, accomplished his highschool coursework with a jaw-dropping 5.34 GPA at age 16 and left his Miami residence to enroll at Ole Miss two years sooner than anticipated.

There was only one drawback for the educational wunderkind with a handy guide a rough left arm that lit up the soccer discipline and the pitcher’s mound: Simmons did not have a driver’s license.

“I needed to educate him how one can drive in Mississippi,” his father, David Simmons, instructed CBS Sports activities.

Austin Simmons hasn’t but taken the mantle as Lane Kiffin’s subsequent nice quarterback, however he’s well-known in Oxford, the place soccer is king and the beginning quarterback makes you Mississippi royalty (Simmons will begin this fall instead of departed first-round decide Jaxson Dart). Almost 4 months earlier than he slings the soccer, Simmons graduates Might 10 after incomes a bachelor’s diploma in multidisciplinary research.

Sure, at 19, the brand new face of Ole Miss soccer can be a university graduate earlier than he is even launched because the beginning quarterback.

“It is a bizarre feeling,” Simmons mentioned. “Everybody’s older than you, and also you’re regarded upon, like, he is only a child on campus. I am right here, I am younger and I am simply gonna take advantage of it.”

Simmons’ superior educational tempo as a teen began due to baseball. Fearing he could not eclipse 6-feet, his father centered on growing him as a southpaw pitcher. To raised put together him as an athlete, and the opportunity of being drafted to play baseball earlier than enrolling in faculty, he started highschool coursework at residence in center college.

His father additionally noticed advantages from enjoying sports activities alongside older youngsters, so he educated with NFL gamers when working at quarterback and started enjoying baseball with a varsity group in sixth grade. 

“I do not give them day off. I do not give them any exits,” David Simmons mentioned. “We go to highschool on Christmas. I do not care about Christmas, I do not care about Easter, I do not care about none of that. We do not miss days.”

David Simmons performed within the Area Soccer League and in addition coached for a number of franchises. At 5-foot-9, he performed receiver and defensive again, and there was some thought that his genetics would possibly forestall his son from being tall sufficient to play quarterback successfully in faculty. Then, Austin grew to six toes in center college. As we speak, he is 6-4 and 215 kilos.

Austin’s baseball profession as a teen was spectacular. He threw back-to-back no-hitters and had a batting common of .365 as a freshman in highschool. Twin enrollment allowed him to acquire faculty credit at Miami Dade Faculty, and he earned an affiliate’s diploma earlier than he was 17, which meant he did not play prep soccer past his sophomore season at Pahokee Excessive, the place he was nonetheless a two-time all-start choice and threw for 1,913 yards and 15 touchdowns in solely six video games as a sophomore.

“I removed the babysitting a part of it. That is all college is, is a bunch of babysitting,” David Simmons mentioned. “They need them there at 7 o’clock till 2:30 or 3 o’clock, so dad and mom can drop them off and go to work. … My child did not want basket weaving, he did not want woodshop, an elective. I put him with what he wanted for faculty and added extra courses for a similar period of time (he would have been within the classroom).”

247Sports rated Simmons because the No. 58 participant in your complete 2025 earlier than he reclassified to 2023, flipping his verbal dedication from Florida to Ole Miss the identical day he introduced that information. As a 2023 recruit, Simmons was rated a excessive three-star (88) and because the No. 35 QB in a category of arms two years older than him; the historical past of reclassified QBs is stuffed with cautionary tales, and skipping two years is virtually unheard-of. 

“It is a testomony to how a lot I preferred Simmons that he was an 88 after skipping two years,” says 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins, who lives in Florida. “Often that’d be a non-starter for me.”

Simmons redshirted as a soccer participant within the fall of 2023 however performed baseball and made 13 aid appearances with a 2-0 file and three.21 ERA within the spring of 2024, when he ought to have been enjoying highschool baseball as a junior.

“He is a greater baseball participant than a soccer participant,” his father mentioned. “Lots of people don’t know. He might be (Shohei) Ohtani. If he did not play soccer, he can be Ohtani.”

Simmons made his soccer debut at Ole Miss final fall, showing in 9 video games with 282 yards and two touchdowns. His greatest second got here off the bench instead of injured starter Jaxson Dart, main a landing drive within the first quarter of the 28-10 upset victory in opposition to No. 2 Georgia. He accomplished 5 of 6 passes for 64 yards.

Personal quarterback coach Oliver Bozeman began coaching Simmons in elementary college. After years of programming as a baseball pitcher, he labored to vary his throwing angles as a quarterback, eliminating wasted throwing motions. His fast launch is a energy, Bozeman mentioned. His father compares his type to left-handed Tua Tagovailoa, who is thought for a fast launch and mobility displayed at Alabama and within the NFL. In Oxford, Austin believes he is extra like Matt Corral than Dart, who he replaces because the Rebels’ starter this fall.

In Simmons’ youth soccer days, Bozeman used Tuesday coaching periods to strengthen the youth league’s scheme, and on Thursdays he instructed highschool schemes to organize Simmons for the long run. Now, Bozeman works on Simmons’ faculty scheme for at some point, and NFL schemes on one other.

“He is at all times been that quarterback and child that retains data,” Bozeman mentioned. “It was very easy for him to deal with one factor at some point and deal with one other factor the following day.”

In the meantime, David Simmons continues to evaluation follow and sport movie along with his son. Understanding post-snap changes after years of specializing in pre-snap motions is paramount. Ole Miss senior analyst Joe Decide, the previous New York Giants head coach, has additionally been a “nice man to have in your toolbox,” Simmons mentioned.

“He is at all times there so that you can watch movie. He is helped me excel within the psychological a part of the sport.”

Following his father’s mantra of no days off, Simmons deliberate to journey to Fort Lauderdale the day after graduating from Ole Miss in order that he may practice with Bozeman.

“This weekend’s a pleasant story —  an awesome story — however now he is received to focus,” David Simmons mentioned. “All people desires a narrative however typically everyone is gonna get bored with seeing a optimistic story about them. They will begin searching for a destructive story. You gotta perceive that.”

A number of Ole Miss receivers will be a part of Simmons in Florida this week. The quarterback believes that group at Ole Miss is “higher than final 12 months.”  

“He is aware of what it takes to be the face of a franchise, the face of a college. He is been groomed for this for years,” Bozeman mentioned. “I do not need to sound biased as a result of I have been working with this child for a really very long time … I feel Austin may probably be among the best we have ever seen do it. I am not simply saying that as a result of I practice him, however perceive the place he’s and the way far he is come up to now.”

SEC spring overreactions: Tennessee ought to sail into CFP even with out Nico, South Carolina’s flash falls flat

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Within the SEC, names like Arch Manning, Garrett Nussmeier, DJ Lagway, Diego Pavia and Gunner Stockton dominated the highest 10 lists of quarterbacks. Simmons, who has +3300 odds to win the Heisman Trophy per FanDuel Sportsbook, could be the following man up.

“You at all times hope to be the very best quarterback,” he mentioned. “I do not like dropping and I do not like being second, both, so I am simply gonna be the very best quarterback I can probably be and let my sport communicate for itself. I am not going to talk proper now as a result of I’ve to earn that kind of highlight. I do not even have the expertise to even be talked about in these conversations proper now.”

The younger gun will get his likelihood within the fall.