Back from Oregon, Simmons has new offers

Fresh off an official visit to Oregon with his teammate and fellow lineman Branden Jackson, defensive tackle Delvon Simmons has picked up two new big scholarship offers.

Simmons received a big boost when the new Rivals250 came out, jumping from a three-star to a four-star prospect and checking in at the No. 165 overall prospect overall nationally.

His head coach from McKeesport, Jim Ward, relayed news of Simmons' new offers to Rivals.com on Tuesday.

"Florida and Penn State both offered (Simmons)," Ward said. "They got up with me and I relayed the information to Delvon. I visited with him before the end of the school day and we talked about Florida.

"He's going to visit Florida. We're looking at the weekend of December 9 because that's a big weekend when Florida's going to bring some of their recruits down for a recruiting weekend."

While the Gators have not offered Jackson they haven't seen his most recent film, either. Ward will be sending his film to Florida in the near future. Florida's coaches received Simmons' film today and offered him immediately, which is a sign of just how impressed they were with what they saw.

Simmons and Jackson were both at Oregon over the weekend and according to Ward that trip went well. It was Simmons' third official visit and Jackson's fourth.

"I talked to both of them and both guys were real enthusiastic about the trip," Ward continued.

"There were so many things they were impressed with. I think the facilities go without saying. They were real impressed with the atmosphere at the game and how rabid the fans were. They really liked the coaching staff and felt the players were laid back. They thought they seemed like a bunch of good guys and they seemed to get along with them real well.

"They were real impressed with the academic support system. There really wasn't one thing they weren't impressed with. At the end of the day they were both blown away."

Simmons and Jackson have both taken official visits to Oregon, Iowa and Rutgers, and Jackson has also been to Texas Tech.

What does each have planned from here on out?

"I know Delvon has a lot of respect for Penn State but he's also got some high interest in North Carolina. After (the Florida official) he'll just have one left so he's got some tough decisions to make.

"I think Delvon will probably make his decision in December after he gets back from Florida.

"Branden's already taken four (official) visits and he doesn't have any plans on another yet. He could decide any time from this week on through January."

McKeesport's season ended on Friday with a loss in the state playoffs so the defensive line duo will be focused exclusively on schoolwork and the recruiting process.