Simmons wants to be a coffee bean

Redshirt junior Isaiah Simmons has become the face of the Clemson defense, and rightfully so.

CLEMSON—Redshirt junior Isaiah Simmons has become the face of the Clemson defense, and rightfully so.

Simmons is pegged as a first-round draft pick, a preseason All-American, a national player of the year candidate and a dominant force that opposing offense have to game plan around. But as good as those accolades are, he wants to be something a little simpler.

Simmons wants to be a coffee bean.

"So to be a coffee bean, you don't want to be a [sic] egg because when the egg gets put in hot water it hardens, and you don't want to be a carrot because when the carrot gets put in hot water, it softens," Simmons said. "So to be a coffee bean, the coffee bean gets put in hot water and it spreads. So we want to be, as our program as a whole, we want to be... I don't want to say the motto, but be able to spread and be a good influence in various ways."
"There's a book as well called 'The Coffee Bean.' Great book. But yeah, I feel like just having a coffee bean mentality is just everything, because it could just help in so many ways regardless of if it's football or just actual real life things."

Simmons has become that coffee bean this season, as he has stepped into a leadership void left by the four defensive linemen that all went to the NFL following last season.

But even though Simmons has had to take over the role of a leader, he is still hesitant to call himself the leader of the defense.

"I don't want to say I'm the leader, but I like to consider myself as a leader," Simmons said. "We have many leaders regardless of if you're a freshman or senior. We always say there's no age limit on leadership. So we encourage everybody to become a leader just in various ways. It could be just a small part or a big part. So I like to say I'm a leader just because I've been here longer than a lot of the guys, so I can show them a lot of things that they don't know, but so yeah, I guess I am a leader but not the leader, if that makes sense."

Simmons had the opportunity to join his former teammates following last year's national championship win and parlay their success on the field into an NFL career. But instead he chose to return to school.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables called Simmons the biggest commitment the Tigers received following his announcement that he was returning. 

The decision to return came after a great deal of soul-searching and an understanding that he still needed to improve in some areas.

"I was kind of back and forth for a while, but then I just came to the realization that it'd probably be best. I didn't want to really sell myself short," Simmons said. "It was a lot of little things in my game. That was my first year playing linebacker last year. So experience was a big thing. Just get another year under my belt of playing linebacker. And it's just like I'm not used to playing in the box, or at least I wasn't. 

"So I wanted to get a lot more comfortable playing in the box, knowing the run fits, knowing all the stunts that D-line does, and really just learning a lot more about football, before it's like, either you learn it or you're gone."

Simmons did something very strange before the 2019 season began: he told head coach Dabo Swinney that he would be turning pro after this season was over.

While that announcement may come as a surprise to many people, for Simmons, it was just a part of his process and not necessarily a declaration of fact.

"That's probably my biggest thing, was it's not 100% I'm leaving, obviously," Simmons said. "Just with another year of eligibility, but I just want to speak things into existence. So I guess I'm just going to pray on it and whatever the good Lord puts me to, then I'm going to go with. If it's for me to come back, if it's for me to leave I really know.

"I always tell guys, 'Let's speak things into existence.' It's kind of just like playing the game before the game. So when you're coming to a football game you won't have already played it all. So what's going to happen in this situation and that situation? So I kind of just take that approach on that."

Regardless of whether Simmons stays for another year or heads to the NFL, one need not worry about him losing his focus.

Because he understands how special his experience is.

"Oh, I'm having a lot of fun," Simmons said. "One of my main things this year was to just enjoy it, enjoy all the time with my guys, just because these are the times that you look back on, that you miss the most. So I've just been trying to enjoy all the moments that I can.