FOR THE SMILES
Simmons caps fourth annual camp in Starkville
Four years ago, National Football League superstar and former Mississippi State football great Jeffery Simmons started a weekend camp that would give back to the kids in his local community.
That first camp was slated to take place at Noxubee County High School but circumstances beyond his control couldn't make that possible. The city of Starkville sprung into action at the last second and moved the camp to the Starkville Sportsplex and Simmons just capped his fourth annual event with Friday and Saturday work.
It's a camp that not many have been lucky enough to attend during their childhood. Over the years Simmons has had NFL and former MSU players like Montez Sweat, Willie Gay, Tyre Phillips, Elgton Jenkins, JT Gray and Gerri Green and even former Starkville standout and current NFL receiver AJ Brown has been on hand. This year, Simmons had a few of those players and he had his teammate and quarterback Malik Willis from the Tennessee Titans there this weekend.
No matter who is able to help each year, it's something that the star defender looks forward to every year.
“I do it for the kids,” Simmons said. “I don't do it for publicity, notoriety or anything like that – I come back to do it for the kids. My heart is in the community here and my community in Macon. It's for our youth and creating more opportunities for them.
I want to build that self esteem for the youth so one day they can be in the same place as I am in the pros.”
Simmons has expanded how he gives back beyond just the two-day event. Last week, Simmons put on a Community Fun Day in Macon where over 2,000 people