Brian Simmons Goes In-Depth Into His New Role at Carolina

CHAPEL HILL – Brian Simmons has seen it all.

A star high school running back from New Bern, NC, he went to North Carolina, switched to linebacker and redshirted. He developed into an All-America, was a first-round NFL pick, played ten years in the league, was a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars for eight years, was an assistant and head high school football coach, and is now back at UNC serving under Mack Brown, who coached him at Carolina in the 1990s.

Simmons was named the 2014 Fritz Pollard Alliance's AFC Scout of the Year, and most recently was the radio color analyst for UNC football, so he has seen the program in person for some time.

Monday, following Brown’s post-spring press conference, Simmons met with the media to discuss his new position as Senior Advisor to the Head Coach/Pro Liaison. He replaced Darrell Moody, who retired a couple of months ago.

Above is video of Simmons’ Q&A session, and below are some notes from what he had to say:

*One of Simmons’ roles is to help NFL draftable players getting ready for later this week when then draft takes place Thursday-Saturday. He helps them with myriad things including how to handle phone conversations with teams, especially the free agents who aren’t drafted, what to wear, when to get to the cities of the teams that draft or sign them, how much money to ask for, and so on.

He has held a couple of zooms with these players, and planned to again Wednesday, the day before the draft begins.

*Simmons was an NFL scout, so one of his roles is to scout the current players as a the league will, and then offer them honest information that can help them improve and enhance their chances at playing at the next level.

*Simmons had some very interesting things to say about UNC junior DT Travis Shaw.

“I just wanted him to realize what his potential is and to not be satisfied with not reaching his potential,” Simmons said.

*The first thing on NFL scouting reports, Simmons said, is the character evaluation. He emphasizes this to the players, telling them they may not always be able to control what happens on the field, but they can control how they conduct themselves, and the impressions they make. NFL teams will steer clear of character issues, with few exceptions.

*Plenty of good stuff about conversations Simmons has had with Drake May. The quarterback is like the “CEO, face of the organization,” he said. Simmons emphasized to Maye that it isn’t about playing QB for a team, a lot of guys can do that at somewhat the same level. It’s about being the QB of a team, which is a role that carries tremendously off the field as well.