STARKVILLE — Jeffery Simmons occupied a corner of the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex’s media room Monday.
With a sea of television cameras and recorders in front of him, the former Noxubee County High School standout talked about the expectations he and the Mississippi State football team face for the 2017 season.
Simmons’ first year on campus was marred by his incident from March 2016, in which he’s seen on video striking a woman multiple times while she’s on the ground. Since then Simmons has fielded questions on it twice, once in the spring then again at the team’s media day Monday, in addition to the controversial one-game suspension. Now Simmons is being granted a big role as MSU’s likely top defensive tackle entering the season.
“He’s done everything we’ve asked him to academically and athletically,” MSU defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said. “We see him as a guy that can showcase his talents.”
Simmons may have certain expectations for academic performance given to him by the program, but his own aspirations are almost certainly higher. Simmons was on the Southeastern Conference’s academic honor roll last year, an honor he takes more pride in than his seeing playing time as a true freshman. He has verbalized a bigger goal: Academic All-American.
His lofty academic aspirations are far from his only off-field goals.
“I’ve always been the leader from high school, on and off the field. That’s something I always wanted to do, be a leader of a SEC team,” Simmons said. “That’s something I feel like I’m ready to do.
“Coming in after all the things that have happened to me, I feel like I can stand up to coach (Dan) Mullen’s standards of being a leader.”
Simmons spent 2016 learning that standard from a defensive line that featured six seniors. He wasn’t alone: his position coach, Brian Baker, admitted he looked to that group for some guidance in his first year with the program last year. Now, both have a command of the program’s operations and are ready to imprint their personalities on the unit.
Baker has an idea of what Simmons has the potential to do.
“He is a guy that absolutely hates to be wrong, almost to a fault, really,” Baker said. “Why does he do things so diligently? I think he absolutely hates to fail. He ain’t getting beat by anybody. That’s just his mentality.”
Simmons showcased just that in his play last season when he had three-and-a-half tackles for a loss and four quarterback hurries — both among the best on the team. His performance earned him first-team honors on the SEC’s All-Freshman team.
Baker thinks Simmons is even better after some physical changes.
“He hasn’t gotten significantly lighter, but he’s gotten a lot stronger — believe it or not — because his core and his body is a lot trimmer,” Baker said. “Now he’s able to bend and move with a little more athleticism than he had last year.
“He was a big mauler before — and I think power is still going to be his game — but because of the way he worked in the offseason, he’s got a little more movement than he had.”
Those changes could help Simmons be the total package. As linemate Braxton Hoyett said, “You rarely get people like him on the defensive line. All the tools are there for him.”
As Simmons said in the spring, the process of reaching this point has had its difficulties. The fact that some of them have attracted a lot of attention has made it tougher, but Simmons reached this point by following a simple creed.
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot,” Simmons said. “Like coach Mullen always says, focus on what you have in front of you, and that’s what I’m focusing on.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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