Cali junior LB lands 1st offer

Compton (Calif.) Dominguez linebacker Maurice Simmons is one of the top junior prospects in the West region. The talented athlete just picked up his first, of what we expect to many, scholarship offers on Monday.

Simmons, 6-1, 200 pounds is the latest in a long line of Simmons brothers who will play at the Div I level. Melvin 'Champ' Simmons played at Washington State before transferring to USC, Marvin played at Kansas State and Marlin played at Cal before suffering a career ending neck injury.

In a previous interview, Dons coach Keith Donnerson told us Maurice could end up being the best of the bunch and he sure looked it on the field a year ago. The 'backer earned 1st team all-state honors after totaling 103 tackles and nine sacks in leading the Dons to a CIF Div III championship.

"I'm getting a ton of mail right now and I just got my first official offer from Mississippi," Simmons said. "I might even have more offers, I still have to check my mail at home and at school. I had no idea Ole Miss offered

until I contacted them about an offer and they said that they had faxed it Sept 1 to my school and mailed me a copy.

"With 10 brothers and sisters plus my mom and dad, mail gets misplaced pretty easily at my house. Notre Dame and Florida want me to try to come to a home game and USC has me on their list as well. Right now, I'm just focusing on our season and we're looking pretty good. We won our first game 69-0. My younger brother Marquis (freshman) is starting next to me so that's been great. We play Crenshaw this week so that will definitely be a test for us, they were the only team that beat us last season."