Elijah Simmons showed up to fall camp with a new number. The 6-foot-2, 340-pound defensive lineman squeezed into a new No. 10 jersey.
Simmons, who has mainly played in a reserve role for the Vols, formerly wore No. 51. The new number represents the change Simmons is hoping to see on the field this season.
“If you’re a D-lineman wearing No. 10, then you need to be elite,” defensive line coach Rodney Garner said on Tuesday. “My challenge to him – sometimes 10 shows up to practice, sometimes 51 shows up, so we have to figure out who you are and what you want to be.”
Simmons boasts natural athleticism for a guy of his size. That jumps off the tape. But just as easily as his athleticism shows on tape, there are times he disappears.
Simmons said No. 51 would “take plays off” at times, or not give his all on every down. When he went hard on the play and tried, he could change the line of scrimmage with his size. No. 51, though, struggled to do that every down.
No. 10 is changing that.
“No. 10, he’s going continuously fight, strain and compete every day,” Simmons said. “Come out every day ready to play, ready to fight the next opponent each and every day get better. So that’s the main difference.”
Part of that change has come with Simmons’ stamina and endurance. Weight-wise, Simmons is the biggest player for the Vols.
That can be used to his advantage, throwing around offensive linemen and clogging up holes up front. It also plays to his disadvantage when it comes to his endurance. At his size, and with little rest time Tennessee’s defense gets, there were times when he faltered.
“His biggest enemy is when fatigue sets in,” Garner said. “…If he’s going to be 10, then he needs to get himself into really, really good shape and be able to play out the whole game like 10.”
The grind to build his endurance and be able to play like No. 10 for 60 minutes has started for Simmons. Late-night cardio sessions in the training facility have paid off for the redshirt senior. He can feel the difference in his endurance at practice.
The quickness and explosiveness is there. Garner was reminded of Geno Atkins, who he coached at Georgia, when he first watched Simmons play. Atkins went on to have an 11-year NFL career with eight Pro Bowl appearances.
The comparison is not one to take lightly.
“He would start out, always, with a bang, then somewhere along the line hit adversity and fade away,” Garner said. “He had a really good spring, and like I told him in the evaluation after spring ball, the challenge was going to be, was he going to pick up where he left off in spring or were we going to start all the way back over again.
“Thus far through camp, he’s having a really good start, and I think he sees that so hopefully he’s gaining some more confidence.”
The wall of adversity that used to cause Simmons to shut down or play poorly, hasn’t been the same. He is allowing his teammates and coaches to push him to get through the adversity. It is a big step in the road for Simmons to not only get on the field, but stay on the field for four quarters.
“I told the guys the other day, ‘If you can’t push yourself, then you need to be man enough to be able to allow others to push you,’” Garner said. “There’s some guys that can’t push themselves, but then they have to allow their teammates to push them or allow their coaches to push them.”
This is a change from previous seasons. It is apart of the maturing that Simmons has done, according to Garner. Maturing that has allowed the lineman to step into a leadership role in the defensive line room.
Garner, and his teammates, see the progress Simmons is making on the practice field in fall camp.
“We always knew that Elijah has it in him, but it was all on what he decided to do with it,” fellow defensive lineman Roman Harrison said. “This fall, he’s grown leaps and bounds.”
For Simmons, though, the clips of him on the field finding success have pushed him.
Watching clips of himself on the field and at practice push the redshirt senior to have success. If he gets in shape like Garner hopes, Simmons could be huge – literally and figuratively – to adding to the successes of the defensive line.
Now it is time for No. 10 to show up every play and wreak havoc on SEC offenses.
“Always strive to do what I need to do,” Simmons said. “Every play, try to do exactly what coach asks us to do, but it is not even a pride thing. It’s just being dedicated to one play at a time. Just being ready to reset every play. Go hard as hard as you can each and at a time.”
