LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, EMERY SIMMONS!
THE SKINNY
Hometown/High School: Hope Mills, NC (South View H.S.)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-0, 185 pounds
Ranking: ★★★ (0.8727 247Sports Composite — No. 564 overall)
Notable Offers: North Carolina, Indiana, and Duke
HIGHLIGHTS
THE TALE
Penn State offered an at-the-time Indiana commit Emery Simmons on May 22, but Simmons wasn’t able to make it to Happy Valley before flipping his commitment from the Hoosiers to North Carolina on June 20. With his new pledge to the in-state Tar Heels, it seemed unlikely Simmons would ever make his way to Penn State for a visit, let alone end up in the class.
As one would have it though, Simmons did make it to Happy Valley, visiting for this weekends Lasch Bash. It was there that Simmons rescinded his commitment to North Carolina, and flipped to the Nittany Lions.
This was quite the surprise. In today’s recruiting age, very rarely you get the out of left field commitments anymore, but Simmons’ tonight was certainly one of them.
OUTLOOK
Simmons only has average size and length, but the dude is a ridiculous athlete. At a Nike Opening camp this spring, he put up stupid numbers — 4.47 40-yard dash, 4.26 20-yard shuttle, and a 40-inch vertical. Generally speaking, if you can run a sub-4.5 40 and have a vertical of 40 inches, you are probably going to be a quality recruit.
Simmons joins John Dunmore as the second wide receiver in the class, but look for Penn State to continue to go after four-star David Bell who was also in attendance at the Lasch Bash today. Three is probably the max for wide receivers in this class, but Bell is too talented for the Nittany Lions to turn away.