Mark Dantonio Adds Recruit #5 for 2011 in WR/DB Andre Sims, Jr.

 Listening to Andre Sims, Jr. talk about his journey to MSU is almost like a Disney after-school special. “We came up to MSU for the Michigan game last

 

Listening to Andre Sims, Jr. talk about his journey to MSU is almost like a Disney after-school special. “We came up to MSU for the Michigan game last year. I had a teammate that had got a letter from the Spartans so we decided to bring him up.” That act of kindness turned out to be a trip of destiny.

 

“The moment I set foot on campus I was so comfortable. That weekend against Michigan the campus was great, but it was more than that. I could sense God was doing something even if I wasn’t sure right then what it was,” was how Sims described it.

 

His father Andre Sr. did know what it meant. He wasn’t excited about MSU. He said, “MSU was not a place that I would have thought would be on our radar, but now it’s crystal clear. I know it is. My youngest son is a leukemia disease survivor. He is nine now. Andre was 13 at the time and had a game. He played the entire game crying. We are about family and faith. Since that game football has been special to him for other reasons. He had a family here, but there is no doubt he has a family at Michigan State.”

 

Andre said that the drawing factor to him about playing at MSU has little to do with the on the field things. “Don’t get me wrong I love the facilities and the program, but there was a lot more than that, things that actually mattered more than that. I was touched that Coach Dantonio and Coach Treadwell, other coaches and other players none of them waited to find out what place God had in my life. They were just open about what place it had in theirs. Coach Dantonio talked very little football, but he talked a lot about the Word of God and making sure that whatever school I picked it was following God’s plan for my life. I really was just so thankful that we are people who live the same way.”

 

Sims, Jr. said it was one thing in particular that stood out. “They all talk about there being other things in life than football and I knew that was where God was calling me.  I knew right then I was going to be a Spartan.”

 

Sims, Sr. expounding on his son moving north to the cold he hates and what he thinks of it now. “I am blessed. As a father you raise your son to love the Lord, to understand what Christ has for him. To send him that far away, to a cold place was easy because of the character of the man that leads that team and offense with Coach Treadwell. What he does on the field and off of it will determine his football success, but with that staff I know I can trust them with my son.”

 

Sims, Jr. isn’t the biggest player on any field, but at 5’9” and 170 pounds the Snellville, Georgia star can be seen darting back and forth across the football field leaving opponents in his wake. His head coach Mark Crews told Spartan Nation, “The biggest thing about Andre is his influence and his character. It is easy to say he’s talented, but he is a lot more than a football player. He is a great player who possesses great leadership skills.” Crews has been at Brookwood for 23 years and has seen a lot of great football players come his way. “We have a running back at South Carolina in the SEC and two wide receivers in the ACC and I can tell you that his speed, talent, quickness, hands, all of it are right up there with them making plays.”

 

For Sims the trip to MSU may seem like a long way away, and his dad thinks it is the arctic, but for them the decision was easy. “That’s home. I told Andre he had one offer and a lot of places really interested, but if you know you have the one why keep looking? He understands that you can’t have a testimony without a test and you can’t be a blessing without being blessed. To have this done and to have such peace that he is right where God wants him to be is incredible.”

 

“I want to come to Michigan State and be a blessing to the fans and the coaches and please the Lord. Once we got there I knew God was drawing me to that place and now I am just really excited to get there.”

 

For Andre Sims, Jr., the fact that the Spartan staff mirrored his family’s convictions, character, and faith made picking MSU as simple as “Going home.”

 

Sims joins four other players who have already committed to Mark Dantonio’s 2011 class.

1)     Onaje Miller RB Lansing, MI  Article  Video

2)     Lawrence Thomas LB Detroit, MI  Article  Video

3)     Taiwan Jones ATH New Baltimore, MI  Article Video

4)     Connor Cook QB Hinckley, OH Article Video 1 Video 2