JUCO transfer with statewide ties commits to South Carolina

Two years after graduating from Bamberg Ehrhardt High, Jerome Simmons is headed back to the Palmetto State.

Jerome Simmons was trying to keep it hidden. The only thing better than committing is telling people you’ve committed, to watch the shock and joy wash over their face. He wanted to gift that to his grandma for Christmas.

Simmons, a 6-foot-4, 333-pound defensive tackle from Highland Community College in Kansas, was in South Carolina this weekend on a visit. It was everything he hoped for, so waiting seemed silly.

He was about to call South Carolina defensive line coach Travaris Robinson, but saw he had his notifications on do not disturb. There was no reason to wake him, Simmons thought, which led to perhaps the most nonchalant commitment of all time. Simmons merely texted, “Yeah, coach, I’m coming home.”

Robinson immediately called him.

“You’ve got to call me with things like this,” he joked to Simmons.

The JUCO defensive tackle is the first transfer South Carolina has landed in this recurring cycle, bolstering a defensive front that has yet to lose a starter to the transfer portal. Simmons plans to graduate from Highland CC in May and enroll at South Carolina during the summer.

And perhaps because his initial commitment was so casual, he wanted to make the announcement to his grandma a little more suspenseful.

Simmons grew up just an hour south of Columbia and attended Bamberg Ehrhardt High School, where his graduating class included just 86 kids. He had been to Williams-Brice before and his grandma, Andrea Williams, was a huge Gamecocks fan who was recruiting Simmons almost as much as the USC coaches.

Christmas was the plan. But then she kept asking and coach Shane Beamer put out his “Welcome Home” tweet and, well, word was going to get around. So Simmons called her and told her the good news.

“She’s like a big church-going woman so she was like, ‘I’m so proud of you and you know you have to keep God first,” Simmons said.

For years, Simmons football path never seemed like it would ever include the garnet and black. In high school, he spent his first three seasons as an offensive lineman before switching over to the defensive trenches and that wasn’t enough film to get him quality looks. With no offers to play defense, he went north and joined the Highland program.

Even after a year there, though, no interest came. Even to this day, Simmons isn’t sure why people started calling him this year, why Georgia and Mississippi State and South Carolina all of a sudden figured he was worth a scholarship.

“I really didn’t know what changed but I guess they were saying I got a little better with how my film looked,” he said. “And last year I played tackle, so I guess they really wanted a bigger man in the middle.”

That’s what he’ll be for Beamer’s defense, where Simmons said he expects to play nose tackle.

“I might play some tackle, but it just depends on how fast I learn this playbook,” he added. “I can hold my spot and create a new line of scrimmage.”

Simmons had an inkling he’d commit to South Carolina for a few weeks now. Before being a part of the Gamecocks huge recruiting weekend, he went on a visit for the Clemson at South Carolina game.

Even with a Gamecocks loss, his decision became clear.

“I felt the atmosphere and I was just thinking about it that Saturday night before I went to bed,” Simmons said. “And I was like, yeah, they have an amazing fan base. The coaches are great. And it’s closer to home. So I was thinking, yeah, I really want to come here.”