Tyler Simmons recaps Kansas visit, timeline on committing

Tyler Simmons completed his official visits with a trip to Kansas last weekend. The defensive lineman from Windermere Prep in Florida made the trip with his family and came away with a good impression of the football program.

“KU is really invested in football now,” Simmons said. “Coach Leipold has a great staff with him and the people at Kansas are great people and the town of Lawrence is beautiful.”

Kansas defensive tackles coach Jim Panagos is the lead recruiter for Simmons. The two communicated over the phone and the official gave Simmons an opportunity to spend more time around him.

“I spent a lot of time with everyone, but Coach Panagos the most,” he said. “He talked about how much of a priority I am to Kansas, and if I came there, I could be an impact player and help win some games there.”

Safety Jalen Dye was his player host for the visit and the two talked about football and life off the field.

“It was really fun hanging out with the Kansas football players, Jalen Dye being my host,” Simmons said. “Him and I have similar personalities, so we got along well, whether it was talking about football or just personal things. I really enjoyed hanging out with Kansas football team, especially Jalen.”

Simmons brought his family on the visit and that included his father, Brian. He played in the NFL for 10 years and was a first-round draft pick out of North Carolina. Simmons said they liked the visit and will talk more about in detail.

“They enjoyed it,” he said. “We haven't talked too much about it. They just wanted to come home and digest everything, think about everything. Then we'll probably have a conversation about it soon. But I can tell that everyone in my family that went enjoyed the visit and had a good time.”

Simmons will go over the three official visits he took to Kansas, Virginia, and Northwestern. There is a possibility he could take an unofficial visit at the end of July when the dead period ends. He will know more in the next few weeks.

“Right now, I'm deciding if I'm taking another visit at the end of July,” he said. “An unofficial visit somewhere so I can make an educated decision. But right now, I'm just looking back at my official visits that I've taken and trying to match them up against each other and compare and make the best decisions.”