Prized O-Line Recruit Lucas Simmons Picks Florida State
Ahead of his senior high school football season at Clearwater (Fla.) Academy International after blossoming into a top international football recruit in Europe, Lucas Simmons whittled more than three dozen scholarship offers down to four.
Florida, Florida State, Tennessee and USC, each having hosted the towering offensive tackle prospect for a June official visit, would sit as the last programs standing in the race for one of the most coveted tackle talents in the college football recruiting class of 2023.
The school and coaching staff in the mix the longest of the bunch won out in the end, Simmons announced Monday afternoon.
“It’s Florida State!” he told Sports Illustrated. “I love Florida State. I can purely say that I do. They came in May 2021, when I was back in Sweden. Even throughout the stars, throughout the rankings and the good season—they’ve been with me and they’ve been the same.
“It’s been real from the start.”
The verbal commitment profiles as a major win on the recruiting trail for the Seminoles and head coach Mike Norvell, especially as both in-state rivals Miami and Florida have been red-hot in landing top talent on the recruiting trail of late.
The 6'7", 300-pound Simmons has become one of the nation’s top pass-blocking prospects, and the FSU staff never wavered on making him feel like a top priority in frequenting Tallahassee more than any college campus since moving to the United States last spring.
“Every time I leave, I just want to be back,” he said of Florida State. “It feels like home. It doesn’t feel like I’m visiting a place, I’m going back to see people that I like. It really does. I feel comfortable at campus, and on the official visit, I met a bunch of players. I love those guys. There’s a sense of competition going on, where people are driving each other, but there’s no selfishness.
“That is the place I will develop the best because I feel comfortable, and I trust the people over there.”
In addition to Norvell, FSU offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins played a major role in the program landing one of the top uncommitted recruits in the country Monday.
Their messaging centered on a long-term relationship between both parties even beyond the college football component.
“Atkins … GOAT. Norvell … GOAT. Florida State’s staff … GOATs,” Simmons said. “That’s basically it. I never leave there feeling bad about a single staff member. Atkins is the realest guy out there; he really is, no question. Every time I talk to him, if we talk longer than five minutes, it’s not about football. I can talk to the guy about life. He understands I love football, but that I’m about more than that as well.
“I know they care for me … like if I went down [with an injury] and couldn’t play, I know they have my back.”
The Seminole sell worked with those close to Simmons, too, including his family and high school coaches, each able to take in Tallahassee with him at different points.
Simmons’s parents flew in from Europe for the Florida State official visit the weekend of June 24, the final recruiting visit he would take before Monday’s public decision. After the trip, the family took a break from the communication element of the recruiting process to make sure the collective feel for FSU was the right long-term decision.
“I was realizing that it’s meant to be for me,” he said. “They understand the value my parents have for me; they understand the value my O-line coach has for me. They understood it was about more than me. It made me super happy to see my parents there, because they felt the exact same thing. My mom doesn’t know too much about recruiting, but she knows how to read people. Before we were in the meeting with Norvell, she didn’t really speak too much with the coaches.
“When he asked her if she had any questions, she looked at him and said, ‘Lucas has been talking about Florida State for a year now, saying all of these great things, and I’m starting to feel it. I feel like Lucas would fit best here.’”
Simmons saw FSU more than any other program since moving to the States.
Courtesy of Lucas Simmons
Simmons admits at one point of the process, in sorting through nearly 40 college programs coveting him, that he got caught up in the combination of his national emergence as well as the prestige at particular programs on his list, originally cut to 12 schools in March.
Even in the back-and-forths with those close to him, though, the conversation always came back to Florida State. When both of his parents also jumped on board, dating back to that last visit, he knew his recruitment was coming to a close.
“When I stepped aside and focused on people and where I wanted to be, I realized it was Florida State,” he said.
FSU now holds 11 verbal commitments in the class of 2023, with Simmons joining fellow recent commitment Roderick Kearney among offensive line recruits on board thus far.
More from SIAA Football:
