(Photo via Austin Simmons, Twitter)
UPDATE: the father of Austin Simmons, David Simmons, has disputed the reports mentioned below that his son would be reclassifying to 2023. At the current moment, Austin is still enrolled in the class of 2025 and registered to play football for Moore Haven High. He might still end up reclassifying but has not at the current moment.
This is a developing story and we will have more information as it becomes available. (Original story begins below.)
Back in April, a Class of 2025 quarterback named Austin Simmons committed to the Florida Gators. “Cool,” thought most fans, “We’ll have another option at quarterback in three years from now.”
Fast forward two short months later, and it appears as though Austin Simmons will be on campus sooner than that. Much, much sooner, in fact.
According to the well-connected Ali Peek on her show, Simmons will be reclassifying to the 2023 class. Peek is the wife of former Florida punter Eric Wilbur as well as the sister of former Florida running back Scott Peek, and has very strong relationships with people close to and inside the Gator program. She reported the tidbit almost a month ago.
As far as the athletic component goes, Simmons shows tremendous promise. His tape was always impressive, and while there was the obvious concern of “how well will he adapt to life in the SEC?” that’s in place with every quarterback, he’s incredibly physically gifted. So that was never the concern.
His intelligence is a separate matter- and it’s perhaps even more impressive than his physical gifts.
Austin Simmons actually graduated from high school after his freshman year. That’s right, that’s not a typo. He earned the credits necessary to receive a high school diploma after ninth grade. Since then, he’s been working to earn enough credits to be academically accepted to the University of Florida, studying college-level material and doing quite well in that area.
So this is not an instance of Florida being so desperate that it reached down two classes to pull somebody else into the fray in the QB room. This is the story of a brilliant young man who already has some college credits under his belt while everybody else in his school year is about to begin their junior years of high school. And because he has academically qualified for the University of Florida, he will be able to participate on the Florida Gators’ football team this year.
If you’d read between the lines, you may have been able to actually see this coming. Billy Napier had dropped hints about adding another quarterback for the 2023 season, yet in the same breath made clear that Florida was done in the transfer portal. Putting two and two together in that scenario could have led one to believe that someone was reclassifying- and Class of 2024 QB DJ Lagway had already said he would not be.
In any case, Austin Simmons is about to step foot on the Florida campus at age 17, and embark on one of his biggest challenges yet. If his perseverance through his academics is any indication, though, he’s going to attack it head on.
The addition of Simmons to the QB room provides a little more competition for Jack Miller and Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz, who exited the spring presumed to be in a battle for the starting QB role.
