NFC Notes: Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

Clemson’s long jumping coach Chris Bostwick believes Cardinals first-round LB Isaiah Simmons could have been an Olympic athlete in track and field.

“I will tell you this: If he were a full-time track athlete — I think he made the right decision, that kid has some ability like nothing I’ve seen — I think there definitely could have been some Olympic rings in his future,” said Bostwick, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. 

Simmons also viewed himself as a future Olympian until his body began changing with age and “football came along.” 

“I could have sworn as a kid I was going to the Olympics,” Simmons said. “But then my body started changing, and football came along, and things switched up a little bit.”

Simmons feels his track background attributes to his “explosiveness” and trusting his mechanics. 

“What translates the most would definitely be trust, that would be one, and then explosiveness,” Simmons said. “And when I say trust, I mean that [to] be saying, so, in long jump, you have your steps that you and your coach commit to. So when it comes to meet day, just trusting your steps and not looking down at the board because you count, ‘one, two, three,’ and whenever you get to whatever number you are — me, I was seven — whenever I got to that, whenever I counted to seven to just jump. So that’s where the trust factor comes in.”