[LeeCoUKFan]

Two-star CB Simmons drawing big-school interest

Justin Rowland
Special to CatsIllustrated.com

Jacksonville (Fla.) Raines cornerback Lamont Simmons has the kind of size and athleticism Kentucky's coaches are looking for in their defensive back recruits and he has a lot of interest in UK.

At 6-foot-2 and 185-pounds Simmons is a long, rangy corner with solid speed and good coverage skills.

His offer list is impressive. Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Arkansas, Michigan State and Georgia Tech, among others, have asked him to join their programs.

While his ranking of two stars might seem to run against that it's clear that some coaches like what he has to offer. Including Kentucky's.

"I talked to coach (Bradley Dale) Peveto the other day and he's a great guy," Simmons told Cats Illustrated. "He's funny and caring.

"(Kentucky is) a good educational school. They're also in a great conference that puts defensive backs into the league. And I have a cousin up there so she could finally see me play."

In other words Kentucky has a lot that Simmons likes. The only sticking point is he has never visited the school.

"I might not get a chance to visit this summer but I'll probably take an official visit there," he said.

That means Simmons might be a soft verbal commitment eventually, because he has said elsewhere that he would like to make a decision in the next month.

Simmons recently finished a tour of colleges that took him to several different campuses. One in particular stood out.

"Probably Virginia Tech," he said. "It's a great engineering school. Their staff has been together for a while so they have chemistry and I was just up there last week and I enjoyed seeing the facilities and meeting coaches."

http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1520250