Austin Simmons full workload during his first spring at Ole Miss is still being determined
Austin Simmons was standing on the mound inside Oxford-University Stadium on Wednesday throwing his usual 92 miles per hour fastballs. Nothing out of the ordinary there but on this day he was hours removed from throwing footballs across campus.
The spring practice season for Ole Miss football started in earnest on the same day and Simmons got his first taste of officially pulling double duty. This was the expected rout he was taking after making the move to Oxford and wanting to play football in the fall and baseball in the spring.
Now the plan is being executed by Simmons who is getting that first taste of what it means to be a multi-sport athlete at the Southeastern Conference level.
So far, so good with the early results.
Making his fifth appearance of the season, Simmons worked and inning of relief for Ole Miss in the 5-3 win over Memphis on Wednesday. He allowed an unearned run due to a passed ball Campbell Smithwick could not corral.
But Simmons also recorded his seventh and eighth strikeouts of the season and still touting a sub 1.30 earned run average through seven innings of work. Simmons is already one of the top relievers out of the Ole Miss bullpen but could be scaled back shortly.
Though Wednesday’s outing was one of the tougher ones in Simmons’ young career, working around traffic on the bases.
“It’s nice to see Simmons get off the field,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “Even if you’re really talented you’re going to have to sometimes be pressed like Simmons was today and still get off the field. Today wasn’t his day but he was still able to get off the field.”
Results are what Simmons and Bianco are wanting to see but now that spring football is fully underway for the next month-plus the work rate for the freshman on the mound could be altered.
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What that looks like and how much Bianco will still work Simmons into the relief rotation once conference play begins next weekend is still to be determined. But, Bianco does have the green light and blessing from Ole Miss football head coach Lane Kiffin.
“(Simmons) didn’t throw a ton today knowing that we would play tonight and a high chance for him to pitch,” Bianco said. “Although he’s been super-valuable out of the pen we’ll see going forward what that looks like for them and us. I’ve talked to coach Kiffin and he’s said, ‘Go use him. Go do what you need to do.’ I think everybody’s mindful of that. The kid’s a tremendous athlete”
Simmons is going to get a lot of reps for Ole Miss during spring drills with Jaxson Dart still on the mend.
The Rebels starting quarterback had an offseason procedure and is going to have him limited throughout spring, according to Kiffin.
With Dart not full go it opens the door for Simmons and Walker Howard to get plenty of practice to sort out the depth chart.
“Every cost has a benefit and that benefit is other people getting reps and being able to play a lot,” Kiffin said when talking to local media on Wednesday. “In that absence, I think Walker and Austin even coming back from playing baseball coming over here, have done a great job.”
Football has one more practice this week then is taking next week off for Spring Break before starting back up the following week.
