By Tate Harrop ’17

Varsity football’s starting wide receiver is about to take a huge leap towards a promising career. Senior Marcus Simms will be graduating early, in January, to get an advantageous head start with a division 1 college football team. He committed to West Virginia University back in March of 2015, receiving a full scholarship. Playing for West Virginia is another step towards Simms’ long-time dream of being an NFL player and playing the game he loves.

“Since I’ve been playing football [for nine years] I have wanted to play at the highest level possible and I am very close to achieving that with hard work and focus I will be there in no time,” said Simms.

Simms, who came to Sherwood near the end of his sophomore year, has been a key player in leading Sherwood’s football team to an undefeated season. He had 14 receiving touchdowns and a 27-yard passing touchdown through the regular season. Simms has stood out amongst other players in the state. ESPN ranked him number 12 of the top Maryland football recruits of 2016.

Simms received eight offers from colleges including the University of Maryland, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Eastern Michigan, Rutgers and Toledo. While visiting the different colleges he focused on which football team was going to support his position. He decided on West Virginia because of the football environment and the way that the play style fits him.

“West Virginia is a high tempo offense that throws the ball a lot and have produced four NFL wide receivers in the last four years,” Simms explained. “Their head coach has a history with other teams producing big-name pro receivers so I don’t think there’s any better fit for me.”

To get every credit he needed to be able to graduate early, he had to take two summer classes including English 12B and a Stat class. He is looking forward to training with the West Virginia football team so that he will be ready for next season. Division I college football is a huge jump for a high school football player and Simms hopes to do all that he can do in order to be ready to play his best when the football season starts.

Simms is dedicated to his career and once at West Virginia, he plans to focus on his grades while working extremely hard to be the best that he can be. It has been a long time since Sherwood has seen a division I football player and although he will be greatly missed on the football field next season, his dedication to his college career will make Sherwood proud to have Marcus Simms as an alumni.