When talking about the kind of player he wants to recruit, Central Michigan coach Keno Davis often mentions student-athletes who will fit in both on and off the court. A great example of this fit is forward John Simons, who is our next entry on our MAC Basketball Top 25 countdown.
Although he never played for him, Simons was originally recruited by former CMU coach Ernie Ziegler. A forward out of Cadillac, Michigan, Simons announced his commitment to CMU on November 9th, 2011, right at the beginning of his junior year of high school. He was one of only a few recruits to remain committed to Central Michigan even after the firing of coach Ziegler following the 2011-12 season. During his career at Cadillac High School, Simons finished 3rd in voting for the prestigious Mr. Basketball award for the state of Michigan and was named to the 2nd All-State team by the Detroit Free Press.
Having lost most of the previous year's roster to graduation or transfer, Davis inserted SImons into the starting lineup at the beginning of his freshman year. Simons responded well to the challenge, leading the Chippewas in rebounding with five rebounds per game. He had notably strong performances in an early season victory over Texas State and in a late season contest against Ohio, where he set his then career high of eleven rebounds. Simons ended up starting every contest during his freshman year.
Simons continued to improve on his performance during his sophomore campaign. He increased his rebound average to nearly six per game, which was again good enough to lead CMU. He ranked second on the team in both scoring and three pointers and ranked tenth in the conference in three point percentage. More notably, he was honored as a part of the Academic All-MAC team and was nominated to be an Academic All-American. Once again, Simons started every game of the season.
As a new season of basketball starts, perhaps the greatest snapshot into Simons' persona can be found through his twitter account, @jsimons34. Based off of his tweets, Simons looks more like an average college student then a student athlete, and his only recent mentions of team related activity involve visiting a local elementary school with his teammates. Simons will look to continue to excel off the court while improving his play on the court, as he looks to lead the Chippewas to greater success in the MAC this season.