50 Days Until FSU Football: Ron Simmons Makes No. 50 Legendary

Congratulations, Seminole fans! You’ve now made it halfway through our offseason countdown. There are now only 50 days until Florida State football’s 2018 season kicks off. As part of the offseason, we’re highlighting players, games, and specific moments from FSU football history.

On Saturday, it was the 1991 FSU team blasting its way to a 51-31 victory over Michigan at The Big House.

Today, it’s Ron Simmons sporting the No. 50 jersey at FSU and finishing his career as a legend.

Most college football fans know how important recruiting is for maintaining a competitive program. Despite this, coverage of recruiting is relatively new. In previous decades, fans would know the absolute best recruits who were getting recruited by every major program. But they would not have the level of access they currently enjoy, where multiple sites can accurately rank the top 300 or 500 players.

Young FSU head coach Bobby Bowden needed one of those elite recruiting victories. The second-year head coach wanted to totally revamp Florida State’s image, and that meant grabbing a top player on the recruiting trail.

Enter Ron Simmons out of Warner Robins, Georgia. At the time, the highly-ranked nose guard was probably the best recruit in FSU history.

From 1977 to 1980, Simmons established himself as one of the best linemen in the nation. His freshman and sophomore years witnessed him record over 100 tackles in each and combine for 17 sacks. There was nothing Simmons could not do. He was incredibly strong even by football standards, and his quickness at the snap seemed unfair.

Defensive tackle Ron Simmons was a 2-time Consensus All-American at FSU. (Photo provided by Garnet and Great)

Not surprisingly, that 1977 team was Bowden’s first 10-win squad at Florida State.

His junior and senior years in 1979 and 1980 gave him his legendary status. Even though his numbers were comparatively less impressive, Simmons began to receive national attention. He was a Consensus All-American in both seasons and helped lead the Seminoles to back-to-back Orange Bowls.

Florida State achieved its highest final ranking ever with a No. 5 finish in the 1980 AP Poll. A large part of that was the stingy defense, which Simmons was the leader of.

By the time he graduated, Simmons was undoubtedly a top-3 player in the history of FSU football. He was inducted into the FSU Hall of Fame in 1986 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. It’s fair to say that if Simmons doesn’t come to FSU, Bowden’s program building might take a little longer.