Eagles land Fla. safety

Stuart (Fla.) Martin County safety Justin Simmons had felt confident about Boston College since a June camp visit. After giving it a couple weeks of thought, the 6-foot-3, 175-pound defensive back went ahead and pledged his services to the Eagles.

"I committed last night," Simmons said. "It just seemed like the right decision yesterday."

Simmons had previously stated that he intended to hold off on making a pledge but said that recent conversations with his family and coach made him rethink that approach.

"I have offers from other schools, but it just seemed like Boston College was there from the beginning," Simmons said. "I spoke with my coach and my parents a lot about it. Other colleges, if they really wanted to be there, they would have also been there from the beginning so I just thought instead of waiting it out and waiting for other colleges to see what was going on with them before the season started, that I would go ahead and make my choice for a school I know really wants me."

"I wanted to go to a school that wants me just as bad as I want to be there," Simmons added. "I felt that way with Boston College."

The three-star safety talked about how he went about informing the coaches in Chestnut Hill of his intentions.

"I called Coach Ryan Day, he is the recruiting coach for this area, their wide receivers coach," Simmons said. "He was psyched, he was pretty psyched about it. He immediately after we hung up called Coach (Mike) Siravo, who will be my defensive backs coach, and Coach (Frank) Spaziani, the head coach."

The No. 37 safety in the nation is supposed to speak with Coach Spaziani, Day, Siravo and others on the Eagles' staff over the phone in the coming days. He communicated with them last night via e-mail.

For Simmons, who held offers from Florida International, Georgia State, Illinois, Presbyterian, Purdue, and Western Michigan in addition to Boston College, his commitment marked a burden lifted from him when he informed Coach Day.

"It was a huge relief," Simmons said. "As soon as I said the words to Coach Day, I felt like dumbbells had been lifted off my shoulders. Now I can focus more on school and my senior season. I obviously want to do good things during my senior year on the football team. So it was a huge relief."

His next visit to Beantown will be during the season more than likely. It will provide an opportunity for his family to learn more about his future home.

"I am not sure when exactly," Simmons said. "I know when I do go back up it will be for an official visit and it will mainly be for my parents, moreso than for me. I just want them to get a feel for where I am going, what I will be doing, and what it is like there."

As a junior, Simmons had 19 rushes for 140 yards, 390 receiving yards and six touchdowns on offense while racking up 70 tackles and seven interceptions on defense. In two years as a starter in the defensive backfield, Simmons has 115 tackles and 12 interceptions.