The trademark dreadlocks that poured from the junior linebacker’s helmet in 2013-14 have been shaved from his head.
“I’m going for a more mature look,” Simmons said. “I had to go down a helmet size, and the family didn’t really like the dreads.”
It’s not just his look that has matured, though.
The entire front seven, and the linebackers that Simmons leads, have all matured as well, coming off of a season where lack of experience was a vulnerability.
“I do think this is the best front seven we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Simmons said. “I think it’s because of our experience.”
Simmons, the most experienced linebacker outside of redshirt senior bandit Zack Shaw, has started since he was a true freshman in 2013 and found success in defensive coordinator Brian Knorr’s new 3-4 scheme as a sophomore in 2014, recording 72 tackles — the second most on the team — and two sacks.
Last year, the linebacking core consisted of then-freshman Tegray Scales, then-sophomores Simmons and Darius Latham and then-junior Nick Mangieri, with several other younger linebackers littered throughout the season, after Marcus Oliver tore his ACL.
Even as a freshman, Scales made substantial strides on the stat sheet, recording the most interceptions on the team, with three, and added 46 tackles. The lack of experience among the linebackers as a whole, though, caused miscommunication and lack of trust throughout the season, Simmons said.
“We didn’t have that trust,” Simmons said. “Guys were trying to do other guys’ jobs, but now, we’re all gelling together, the defensive backs and defensive line and linebackers.”
IU Coach Kevin Wilson also sees the increase in trust, but the coaching has a big part in that trust, Wilson said.
“The first year, it’s all scheme, scheme, scheme,” Wilson said about Knorr and the defensive coaches. “The second year, you can really start developing those guys, and that’s how you get that trust.”
The Hoosiers target for the 2015 season is to not allow more than 21 points per game, Simmons said, and the goal for the front seven is to not allow more than 2.5 yards per rush.
In 2014, the Hoosiers allowed 34 points per game and 5.1 yards per rush.
“As an inside linebacker, I’m defined as how many yards running backs get,” Simmons said. “If the running back gets more than two yards in my area or my gap, that’s how I’m defined.”
Coming into the season, Simmons underwent an arthroscopic knee procedure, which kept him from the final three weeks of spring camp.
His injury didn’t keep Simmons from the film room, though.
“I’m healthy now,” Simmons said. “When I was hurt, I used that time to get in the film room. In my rehab, I was in the film room, and now I feel like I can play faster.”
After the season of inexperience and surrendering the seventh-most yards in the Big Ten in 2014, this defense is the best Simmons has ever been a part of, Simmons said. “We’ve got a lot of play-makers,” Simmons said. “The program is building.”
