Simmons returns home to take on challenge at FAMU
Willie Simmons grew up just 25 miles from Florida A&M’s Bragg Memorial Stadium. The Quincy, Fla., native spent plenty of fall Saturdays watching the Rattlers, which helped inspire a boy who went on to play football at Clemson and The Citadel before he went into coaching.
Simmons, 37, is home again — bringing an up-tempo, option attack to the Rattlers as their first-year coach. He built a resume as an assistant at Middle Tennessee and Alcorn State before taking over as head coach at Prairie View, where he went 21-11 in three seasons, including 19-6 in conference play.
When FAMU administrators called in December, the offer was too good to pass up.
“It comes full circle,” Simmons said. “When I left Quincy 20 years ago, I would have never dreamed that I would be back in this capacity. The Lord has been really good to me and my family. To be able to come back to the place where it all started, the place where I grew up watching Saturday afternoon football games, I’m just blessed at the opportunity.”
Simmons inherits 14 returning starters, including eight on offense, from ateam that went 3-8 in 2017 (losing six of its final seven games). FAMU hasn’t had a winning season since 2011.
The Rattlers return a veteran quarterback in junior Ryan Stanley, a former Pembroke Pines-Flanagan standout who threw for 2,190 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, with seven interceptions. Stanley has a deep group of receivers, including sophomore Chad Hunter (32 receptions, 598 yards, six TDs) and junior Marcus Williams (25 receptions, 281 yards, two TDs). FAMU also brings back its top four rushers, led by senior Devin Bowers (652 yards, six TDs).
Stanley is looking forward to playing in Simmons’ offense, which averaged 44.9 points a game in 2015 at Prairie View.
“When coach Simmons first got the job, that’s one of the big things that people really fantasized about him – his explosive offense,” Stanley said. “Our offense is much more explosive and up-tempo.”
The defense should be improved. Senior end Antonio Miller (31 tackles, four sacks in 2017) brings speed off the edge. The Rattlers also return junior tackle David Henderson (22 tackles, 3.5 sacks), senior linebacker Jibreel Hazly (55 tackles, four tackles for loss) and All-MEAC junior safety Terry Jefferson (51 tackles, three interceptions).
“We feel we inherited a team that was right on the brink of being a really good football team,” Simmons said. “The amount of games that they lost in the fourth quarter, they were really close to being a team that was easily an eight-win team as opposed to a three-win team.”
Bragg Memorial Stadium will unveil a new artificial turf field for FAMU’s opener Satur
against Fort Valley State. The Rattlers will close the season against Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 17 in Orlando.
Simmons is FAMU’s fourth coach since 2012, following Joe Taylor, Earl Holmes and Alex Wood. If he can lead an experienced team to a winning mark and challenge for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title in November, it will be considered a successful debut season.
“The main reason I came back was to restore FAMU to its rightful place as the pillar of excellence in college football at this level,” Simmons said. “That’s what I grew up knowing it as.”