ATLANTA — The case for Ole Miss soccer optimism this 12 months is rooted in two Austin Simmons aid appearances towards Georgia final 12 months.
The primary got here in April 2024, within the seventh inning of the second sport of a baseball double-header on the No. 23 Bulldogs. Simmons, a lefty reliever, got here in to protect a lead and struck out two batters, together with eventual MLB No. 3 general draft decide Charlie Condon. “Slider, in,” recollects Ole Miss baseball coach Mike Bianco.
The second unfolded with a bit extra fanfare in Oxford on Nov. 9, as Simmons got here in for a sequence on the soccer subject towards No. 3 Georgia. In aid of injured quarterback Jaxon Dart, Simmons led Ole Miss on a 10-play, 75-yard landing drive to tie the sport with an unflinching calm. “Simply went on the market and dominated,” Simmons recalled with an analogous nonchalance. “Simply trusted my preparation.”
Bianco watched the primary aid efficiency from the Insurgent dugout, and wasn’t stunned when the second with the valuable lefty unfolded at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
“The composure did not shock any of us,” Bianco informed ESPN by cellphone. “He is a particular man, bodily and mentally. I do know he hasn’t been the starter but, however to observe what he is accomplished and his presence on the mound within the SEC … for him to have that composure and perception is particular.”
Even with the eyes of the SEC on first-year full-time starter Arch Manning, Simmons looms as one of many league’s most pivotal characters for 2025. He is poised to grow to be one of many nation’s breakout gamers if the tangibles and intangibles translate to an even bigger stage.
“I simply need folks to simply perceive that there is going to be much more moments like that,” Simmons mentioned.
Why? He mentioned flatly: “I simply know I am made for it.”
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s actions present his confidence in that final result. Simmons flashed sufficient expertise in two seasons as a reserve to maintain the famous Portal King, as Kiffin is thought, out of the top-end quarterback market this offseason.
The primary time that Kiffin noticed Simmons throw on movie, he instantly noticed his free lefty stroke and mentioned: “He simply has the Tua factor.”
“There is not any means you train any of that,” Kiffin mentioned of Simmons and his former quarterback at Alabama, Tua Tagovailoa, a southpaw now with the Miami Dolphins. “They simply have that.”
The distinctive capacity jives with an unconventional path that honed the uncommon arm expertise. Simmons graduated two years early from highschool and has already graduated from Ole Miss this spring with a level in multidisciplinary research. If he’d caught completely with baseball, in accordance with Bianco, Simmons would have been a high-round Main League Baseball decide.
Simmons, 19, in some ways has been constructed for this second his entire life. His father, Dave, is a former faculty {and professional} coach who educated him intensively in each soccer and baseball.
Simmons is the third of seven brothers, ages 30 to six. The primary six are left-handed, and Simmons mentioned the youngest brother, Nathan, hasn’t declared a dominant hand: “He is nonetheless so younger, so he is nonetheless making an attempt to determine,” Austin Simmons mentioned. “He needs to throw with each palms, so he simply cannot decide one.”
There is a paradox for Simmons as he prepares to start out for the primary time in his faculty soccer profession. His entire path has been fastidiously choreographed for practically a decade, but in his third 12 months of school is simply beginning.
“I simply really feel prefer it’s only the start, truthfully, as a result of I am simply reaching that potential proper now,” he mentioned. “That is my first 12 months actually showcasing myself and albeit, nobody actually is aware of who I’m till that first SEC sport. So, I simply can’t wait to expertise that second, actually simply present everybody who I’m.”
GEORGIA COACH KIRBY Sensible is not susceptible to exaggerate. And when Simmons’ aid soccer look from the autumn is introduced as much as him, it is apparent the 10-play drive from eight months in the past is seared in his reminiscence.
“He went on the market with ice in his veins,” Sensible mentioned. “He performed with no inhibition and performed very well.”
For somebody in such a rush to get to varsity by enrolling two years early, it is counter-intuitive to go with his persistence. However that is what he is proven in ready his flip in soccer and creating behind Dart.
And now that his time has come, he brings a confidence and command that comes with a lifetime of preparation for the second. Simmons’ father, Dave, has curated his athletic coaching to maximise his expertise in each soccer and baseball.
Dave Simmons has an affinity for hyperbole, and he estimates that when Austin Simmons was rising up he’d spent practically eight hours a day both taking part in or training soccer and baseball, coaching to play them or doing issues resembling remedy and stretching to optimize efficiency.
He says that Ole Miss is definitely simpler for his son, now that he left baseball behind this spring and is barely targeted on one sport. “He’d actually been conditioned to be an expert athlete,” Dave Simmons mentioned.
Austin Simmons says that not taking part in baseball has been “wonderful,” as he mentioned, “Much less stress on my arm.”
In faculty soccer as of late, being a beginning quarterback is far the identical as being an expert athlete — the work, the pay and the highlight. Simmons acknowledges that, and says his years of being consumed by intensive coaching has ready him for the glare of the SEC.
He realizes that he did not have the identical social life as most youngsters rising up, a by-product of the depth of his regiment.
“Being that invested in two sports activities, you are occupied the whole 12 months, so principally you are actually taking away the social life on the similar time,” Austin Simmons mentioned. “I am nonetheless constructing, I am nonetheless experiencing social experiences with my teammates, however it’s not the identical once you’re out in the true world and stuff like that. So I am studying proper now.”
There’s not a lot social life exterior residence for Simmons in Oxford. He does admit to being a pinch of a foodie, and he enjoys native spots Toyo, GrillHouse Oxford and Oxford Burger Firm. (Together with common Chipotle stops). Principally, he stays in.
“Often,” he mentioned, “I simply discover all my peace at residence.”
And that is all a part of the preparation for Simmons, who grew up along with his dad pounding residence a easy message: “If you happen to’re a quarterback, you are completely different. When you perceive that, you are OK.”
The messages resonated to the purpose the place he handles essentially the most hostile atmospheres with a preternatural calm. He guarantees there’s extra to come back.
“One drive would not actually outline me as a quarterback,” Simmons mentioned. “Individuals are going to see precisely how I play towards higher competitors.”
LANE KIFFIN WISHES he may correctly describe the way in which a soccer leaves Austin Simmons’ left hand. There is a smoothness, a fluidity and crispness of the way it leaps out upon launch. He is unsure of the articulation — “I am certain there’s massive phrases for that” — however assured within the pure capacity being extra nature than nurture.
“There is not any means you train any of that,” Kiffin mentioned. “I do not know [anything] about golf, however I wager there’s lots inside golf swings the place a coach goes like, ‘Man, that man simply has this unbelievable swing. I can not actually train it.’ I really feel like that is the case.”
So what can that pure expertise translate to for Simmons and Ole Miss? It is a query that may hover over the SEC race, as Ole Miss will probably be favored in its first 4 sport earlier than internet hosting LSU in late September.
Together with shedding Dart, a three-year starter and eventual first-round decide, Ole Miss returns the least quantity of manufacturing within the SEC, per ESPN’s Invoice Connelly’s returning production rankings. Gone are the main runner and receiver and 4 beginning offensive linemen.
Whereas there’s uncertainty round Simmons’ supporting forged and expertise, there is a robust feeling about his expertise degree and ceiling. Kiffin marvels at his capacity to squeeze balls in tight home windows, throw from completely different arm angles and deal with every part that is been thrown at him.
Even with a spot to bridge between spot performer and the highlight of beginning within the SEC, there is a confidence within the expertise to hold by way of the transition.
“It is simpler to come back in as a reliever, in each conditions, pitching and quarterback, and now are available in and be the man,” Kiffin mentioned. “So there’s loads of work to be accomplished with that, however he does have a really excessive ceiling.”