'07 WI OL Matt Simmons
Racine (WI)
Park
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 300 pounds
Bench max: 325 pounds
Squat max: 450 pounds
GPA: 3.7
Matt is showing high interest in tOSU and Wisconsin right now. Given the Buckeye's need for OL next year, he could be a solid prospect to watch. He is a teammate of highly coveted '07 WI RB John Clay.
Rivals $
2/7
tOSU and Wisconsin are his favorites but he is open to all schools.
Journal Times
Prep Notebook: A time to show off - Park's Simmons gets evaluated at national combine
By Robb Luehr
Matt Simmons had a pretty good excuse for missing school for three days.
The Park High School junior wasn't at school last Thursday, Friday and Monday because his football skills were being evaluated in San Antonio, Texas, at the U.S. Army National Combine.
The Combine, held inside the Alamodome, is billed as "the largest and most elite gathering of prep football underclassmen of the year" in a press release. It is the only national combine for high school players, who are selected by the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Selection Committee.
Simmons, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive tackle, helped open holes for fellow junior Johnny Clay as the Panthers won the WIAA Division 1 state title. At the Combine, he had a chance to be compared to the other 500 underclassmen from across the country at all positions.
The players attended an orientation session and the players were interviewed by reporters from www.scout.com, a national scouting Web site.
"The first day, I had to check in with a scout.com reporter," Simmons said. "They ask you what schools are interested in you, what your grade-point average was and if you've taken your ACTs or SATs."
Saturday was the day of individual testing -and a very early start.
"We had to leave the hotel at 6:30 a.m.," Simmons said. "It was a little rough."
Simmons and the other combine participants were evaluated in the 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump and 20-yard shuttle (running back and forth within a 20-yard area).
Simmons was relatively satisfied with the results, except for his time in the 40. He was timed in 5.87 seconds, which he thought wasn't right.
"That's definitely not what I run," Simmons said. "I've never been below a 5.4. I had been running early in the morning before school for three weeks, then I took a week off before (the combine)."
He did 15 repetitions of 185 pounds in the bench press ("not my best, but not my worst"). He said one player did 48 repetitions, but most were in the low 20s.
Simmons, who weighed in at 319 pounds fully clothed, had a vertical leap of 18 inches and ran the shuttle in 5.1 seconds.
"That's not so bad," he said.
Sunday was the day for one-on-one drills and was the most satisfying part of the combine for Simmons.
"I got to compare myself against linemen from throughout the country, not just the state," Simmons said. "Size-wise, I was as big or bigger than a lot of them. In a lot of one-on-one drills with defensive players, I did really well.
"What matters to me the most is that I could hang with them."
Evidently, a lot of schools think Simmons can hang with anyone. The first correspondence he received was from Arkansas and he has also been contacted by mail by Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio State. In combination with his academics, Duke has also sent a letter of interest.
Simmons said he would be happy to play at any school in the Big Ten, but it would have to a school with a good civil engineering or architecture program. He said his GPA is about 3.7 and all but two of his classes are college preparatory classes.
He could be back next year, this time to play in the All-American Bowl, an All-Star game for prep players. Seventy-eight seniors from across the country are selected for the game.
Credit to 44820 for the initial find.
Racine (WI)
Park
Height: 6-foot-5
Weight: 300 pounds
Bench max: 325 pounds
Squat max: 450 pounds
GPA: 3.7
Matt is showing high interest in tOSU and Wisconsin right now. Given the Buckeye's need for OL next year, he could be a solid prospect to watch. He is a teammate of highly coveted '07 WI RB John Clay.
Rivals $
2/7
tOSU and Wisconsin are his favorites but he is open to all schools.
Journal Times
Prep Notebook: A time to show off - Park's Simmons gets evaluated at national combine
By Robb Luehr
Matt Simmons had a pretty good excuse for missing school for three days.
The Park High School junior wasn't at school last Thursday, Friday and Monday because his football skills were being evaluated in San Antonio, Texas, at the U.S. Army National Combine.
The Combine, held inside the Alamodome, is billed as "the largest and most elite gathering of prep football underclassmen of the year" in a press release. It is the only national combine for high school players, who are selected by the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Selection Committee.
Simmons, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive tackle, helped open holes for fellow junior Johnny Clay as the Panthers won the WIAA Division 1 state title. At the Combine, he had a chance to be compared to the other 500 underclassmen from across the country at all positions.
The players attended an orientation session and the players were interviewed by reporters from www.scout.com, a national scouting Web site.
"The first day, I had to check in with a scout.com reporter," Simmons said. "They ask you what schools are interested in you, what your grade-point average was and if you've taken your ACTs or SATs."
Saturday was the day of individual testing -and a very early start.
"We had to leave the hotel at 6:30 a.m.," Simmons said. "It was a little rough."
Simmons and the other combine participants were evaluated in the 40-yard dash, bench press, vertical jump and 20-yard shuttle (running back and forth within a 20-yard area).
Simmons was relatively satisfied with the results, except for his time in the 40. He was timed in 5.87 seconds, which he thought wasn't right.
"That's definitely not what I run," Simmons said. "I've never been below a 5.4. I had been running early in the morning before school for three weeks, then I took a week off before (the combine)."
He did 15 repetitions of 185 pounds in the bench press ("not my best, but not my worst"). He said one player did 48 repetitions, but most were in the low 20s.
Simmons, who weighed in at 319 pounds fully clothed, had a vertical leap of 18 inches and ran the shuttle in 5.1 seconds.
"That's not so bad," he said.
Sunday was the day for one-on-one drills and was the most satisfying part of the combine for Simmons.
"I got to compare myself against linemen from throughout the country, not just the state," Simmons said. "Size-wise, I was as big or bigger than a lot of them. In a lot of one-on-one drills with defensive players, I did really well.
"What matters to me the most is that I could hang with them."
Evidently, a lot of schools think Simmons can hang with anyone. The first correspondence he received was from Arkansas and he has also been contacted by mail by Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio State. In combination with his academics, Duke has also sent a letter of interest.
Simmons said he would be happy to play at any school in the Big Ten, but it would have to a school with a good civil engineering or architecture program. He said his GPA is about 3.7 and all but two of his classes are college preparatory classes.
He could be back next year, this time to play in the All-American Bowl, an All-Star game for prep players. Seventy-eight seniors from across the country are selected for the game.
Credit to 44820 for the initial find.
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