Shane Simmons Discusses Expectations Ahead of 2020 Season
Shane Simmons came to Penn State four years ago with a four-star rating from Rivals.com, along with a multitude of other awards and honors. But after starring at perennial Maryland football powerhouse DeMatha Catholic, he struggled with injuries during his college career and goes into his senior season with just one sack on his resume.
When Simmons was asked Wednesday to describe his career, he immediately reached for two all-too-familiar words: “overcoming adversity.”
“I started off as a huge recruit and stuff, high expectations,” he said. “I had a pretty good redshirt freshman year, and then all that other stuff popped up. I’ve been working and battling through all that.”
Simmons’ redshirt freshman season did indeed appear to set the stage for a big career. He played in all 13 games and won Big Ten All-Freshman honors from BTN.com while helping the Nittany Lions go 12-2 in 2017.
But that momentum dissipated as a redshirt sophomore. He played in only eight games, missing the first five with a foot injury, and finished with just nine tackles. Then last season, Simmons backed up Yetur Gross-Matos and finished with 19 tackles, including two tackles for loss.
His modest career numbers to date – 43 career tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss – mean that Simmons’ final season will be, as he described it, “a really big year for me.”
Majoring in communications arts and sciences, Simmons already has his diploma in hand, meaning that he can focus on making the most of his final campaign, whenever it begins. He’s been doing a lot of running while home, working to maintain his fitness. But he said he’s also been able to pack about 5 extra pounds of muscle onto a frame that was listed at 6-foot-3, 244 pounds earlier this spring. Four home-cooked meals per day will have that effect.
Heading into his senior season, Simmons will be looking to battle for playing time at the defensive end spot that opened up when Gross-Matos left early for the NFL. Two of his presumptive rivals – sophomores Jayson Oweh and Adisa Isaac – are among the Nittany Lions’ fastest-rising stars. Simmons knows that he’ll have his hands full as he works to earn a prominent spot in new defensive line coach John Scott Jr.’s rotation.
“Both of them are NFL-caliber players,” Simmons said. “They’re really fast. They’re probably the fastest defensive ends that I’ve seen up close and played with. They’re strong and smart, both of them.”
Simmons has a variety of interests that he’s been exploring during the quarantine, everything from commercial real estate to computer animation. But when football practice resumes, he’ll be focused on ending his Nittany Lion career with a flourish. His first three seasons were “not what I’d planned,” he admitted. “But the story isn’t finished yet. I still believe I can leave my mark at Penn State.”
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