SportsDay’s top recruits for 2024

Let’s cut right to the question: is Colin Simmons one of the best defensive players to come through Duncanville? Better yet, the best?

Reginald Samples, Duncanville’s head coach since 2015, has seen quite a few good ones in the last eight years. Omari Abor (Ohio State), Jordan Crook (Arkansas), Kendrick Blackshire (Alabama) and Ennis Rakestraw (Missouri) are just a few who come to mind.

So the veteran coach isn’t quick to crown Simmons, a junior defensive lineman, as the king of the ‘Ville.

He also didn’t respond to that question with a ‘no,’ either.

“I would say he has a chance to be one of the top defensive ends,” Samples said. “I’m just never going to say ‘the very best’ because every situation is different.”

That itself is rare air, and it’s not undeserved. Simmons, 6-3, 225 pounds, is a five-star recruit in the class of 2024 and ranked by 247Sports.com as the No. 5 overall prospect in the country. He’s the top-ranked edge rusher in the nation, the top-ranked player in Texas, and his recruiting rating of 0.9962 is higher than nine of the 12 defensive linemen selected for this year’s NFL Pro Bowl.

Need more context? That’s a higher rating than Allen’s Kyler Murray (0.985) had back in 2015. It puts him in a conversation with Denton Guyer alum Jackson Arnold (0.9963), the 2022 Gatorade National Player of the Year, and Caleb Williams (0.9969), the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner.

“I’ve never really thought about it like that,” Simmons said. “I don’t think about it like that. What I think about when I go out there on that field is having fun.”

Can you blame him? Simmons had 34.5 sacks in his first two full seasons as a varsity player, led Duncanville (15-0) to its first state title since 1998 as a junior and was named Defensive MVP of the 6A Div. I state championship game, a 28-21 win over nemesis Galena Park North Shore.

Peel the layers back even more, and you’ll find those stats are even more impressive. Simmons recorded 12 sacks as a sophomore and was named the District 11-6A Sophomore MVP. He did that with something of a safety net opposite him on the defensive line, as opposing offenses focused much of their attention on Abor, then a senior four-star recruit.

All he did in 2022 — without Abor lining up a few spots down for him — was break Duncanville’s single-season sack record with 22.5. Duncanville, mind you, has played in four of the last five 6A Div. I state championship games. School records within the City of Champions carry incredible weight.

He was named The News’ Defensive Player of the Year, a MaxPreps first-team All-American and the District 11-6A co-MVP.

“He has outstanding abilities at his position,” Samples said. “I think more than anything else, he was determined. We basically wore him out with the fact that [offensive lines] will double team him, and I think that motivated him to even do better.”

Speaking of motivation, Simmons has goals. Lofty ones. First? Break his own single-season sack record as a senior. Something light, like 30 sacks he says, should do the trick.

Second? End high school with 50-plus scholarship offers. With 43 already — including Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas and Michigan — he isn’t too far off. For reference, Southlake Carroll quarterback Quinn Ewers, the most recent Dallas-area player to be ranked the No. 1 recruit in the nation, held 29. Denton Ryan linebacker Anthony Hill, The News’ No. 1 recruit in the class of 2023, held 33.

And Simmons still has one year left of high school.

Isn’t that exciting?

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