For a collective moment, Rutgers football fans watching Jyon Simon’s commitment last week held their breath. Simon seemed to be heading elsewhere.
In fact, it appeared for a brief, fleeting few moments that Simon was committing to Big Ten rival USC. But then Simon revealed the joke and made his commitment to Rutgers.
Last week during his commitment ceremony, Simon initially declared for USC, holding up a playing card with the Trojans helmet. He then shook his head and threw the card to the side.
Then holding up a playing card emblazoned with the word ‘Joker’ on it, Simon committed to Rutgers. On the card – the second one – Simon was wearing a Rutgers jersey.
“So some schools I just talked to either the person that recruited me or the position coach,” Simon told Rutgers Wire this week.
“At Rutgers, I talked to their whole staff not daily but weekly. Like there was not a week where Rutgers did not check on me (and) ask me what I’m doing, ask me how I’m feeling.
“So that that love that they had for me – it was just off the charts. It was amazing. So when I went out to Rutgers, it was a done deal.”
His finalists were Texas, Tennessee, USC (University of Southern California), Pittsburgh, Jacksonville State. NC State and Colorado.
Simon is a three-star defensive lineman. He is a 6-foot-1, 260-pound defensive lineman from Raines High School (Jacksonville, Florida).
As a junior, he had 77 total tackles, 15 tackles for a loss and nine sacks.