JUCO guard Simons on Pitt: "It's home for me"
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From bouncing around high schools to basketball purgatory to a junior college more than 1,000 miles away, Troy Simons’ path has been circuitous, to say the least.
But now it’s heading in one direction:
Home.
“I committed to Pitt on Saturday night,” Simons told Panther-Lair.com Monday morning. “I talked to Coach (Jeremy) Ballard and Coach (Kevin) Stallings and they were excited to hear that. They said they couldn’t wait to get me on campus.
“It’s home for me and I have family there. That’s the big reason I chose Pittsburgh.”
A native of the Hill District who attended a few high schools before transfer rules and athletic eligibility cost him two years of organized basketball, Simons found his way to Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla., two years ago, where he was a standout scoring guard last season and committed to Middle Tennessee State.
But he backed away from that verbal pledge prior to the 2016-17 season because he expected to see the college interest increase. Tennessee-Chattanooga also offered, but Simons was drawing interest from Dayton, Ohio State, Iowa State, Memphis, Cincinnati, New Mexico State and Portland State. After Christmas, the Pitt coaches joined that mix.
“They invited me to the game against Virginia on January 4,” Simons said. “So I went to that and I’ve been talking to Coach Ballard pretty much every day. Now me and him are pretty close right now. He’s an exciting, enthusiastic coach.
“And as I’ve been talking to them, I’ve seen that Coach Stallings is a good coach. I watched some of his coaching when he was at Vanderbilt and what he did at Pitt this year, and I really like the offense he runs.”
The relationships came to a head last Thursday when Pitt offered Simons a scholarship, bringing him full-circle on his journey.
“The time away from home was good,” Simons said. “I needed this to clear my mind, to get me back on the right track. These two years were good for me. Once I got that done, I was hoping I would get a chance to come home.”
Of course, Simons didn’t just clear his head at Polk State College; he also showed himself to be one of the best scorers in the junior college ranks. This past season he averaged 26.3 points per game while shooting 46% from the floor and 40.9% (105-of-257) from behind the arc.
A 6’1” 193-pound guard, Simons also averaged 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game.
“I can bring leadership, I can bring energy and I can bring positive vibes,” Simons said. “On the court, if they need me to score, I can score. If they need me to play defense, I can play defense. If they need me to be the point guard and facilitate, I can do that also.”
Simons is the seventh recruit to commit to Pitt in the class of 2017, a huge class that will follow quite a bit of attrition from the current roster. He did add that he will need to take two online courses this summer in order to be eligible with the Panthers in the fall.