Position Switch Has Allowed Under the Radar WVU Defender to Thrive

Has West Virginia unlocked Taurus Simmons' potential?

Schuyler Callihan | Aug 15, 2024

Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

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West Virginia Mountaineers

Coming out of Jenkins High School in Savannah, Georgia, Taurus Simmons was viewed as someone who could be a multi-year starting pass rusher at West Virginia. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case and as a matter of fact, Simmons even entered the transfer portal at the end of the 2022 season before withdrawing his name and returning to the program nearly a month later.

While it hasn't gone the way Simmons had hoped, he's still been a valuable member of the Mountaineers' special team unit and has provided depth along the defensive line. In 36 career games played, he's responsible for 24 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks, playing primarily with his hand in the dirt as a defensive end.

Simmons came to West Virginia, I believe, to play the bandit position which is now coined as the spur. When they fully moved him to defensive end, I questioned the move because of his size (6'2", 250 lbs) and because of the shortage of bandits/spurs on the roster. This offseason, he moved back to spur full-time and according to outside linebackers coach Victor Cabral, he's going to have a role on this defense.

“We moved over Taurus Simmons full-time basis with the spurs and he’s really been fantastic. He’s really earned the trust of his teammates, of me and the coaches and all that. I’m really excited about him and the way he’s progressed," Cabral stated. "He’s been here for a while and he’s shown some things that he hadn’t shown before. I’m really excited about him moving into this season. He’s going to be able to get us a bunch of reps this year.”

Sometimes making the transition from a down lineman to playing as a stand-up edge rusher is a bit challenging because of the pass coverage component. Although it's not a completely foreign territory for the senior, he's put a lot of time into perfecting his craft to ensure that come Week 1, he's able to hand anything that's thrown at him.

“He’s asking so many great questions in those meeting rooms and he’s taking great notes," Cabral said. "He’s one of the guys where he’s going to be successful because he can take things from the classroom to the practice field to interactions in the full scrimmages. I really think the world of him and his grit. He’s done a really good job for us this fall camp and he’s going to provide some really good depth that we need.”

Tyrin Bradley and Gardner-Webb transfer Ty French are going to be the top two options at spur, but Simmons can cement himself as that third option assuming he continues to trend in the right direction. True freshman Obinna Onwuka has an extremely bright future, but the coaching staff would like to not throw him into the fire if they don't have to.

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