It may have seemed somewhat overdue, but it was right on time when the Huskies made the offer yesterday to Lincoln (Tacoma) linebacker, Julien Simon.
Simon, who’s 6-2, 215, is a very versatile athlete who could be plugged in on offense or defense, but Washington likes him at inside linebacker, “I just want to play football”, he told Realdawg.com.
“I have 18 offers right now”, Simon added, “I got offered before the camp…my family and I had met with Coach Petersen…we were all pretty excited.”
Simon is no stranger to Washington Football; he’s been over to Montlake several times and has been keeping in continual touch with Bob Gregory and Jimmy Lake, “It’s 30 minutes away and I have a real good relationship with the whole staff”, he said, “My family is excited about the opportunity to stay home.”
But Washington has some competition too.
Simon already holds offers from UCLA, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Wisconsin, USC, Penn State, Stanford, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgtown, WSU, Auburn, Nebraska, Cal, and Utah.
One thing that does stand out and work in Washington’s favor, however, is that they are just 30 minutes North of Tacoma and Simon said he plans to attend home games again this year. He’s also spent a lot of time at Husky Stadium doing his own thing.
“This is the third year I’ve been (to camp)”, he said, “It just feels normal.”
He had a real solid camp yesterday too, and feels good about his performance. While Simon is a guy who can do damage in the secondary, at linebacker and even on offense, Washington had him working at linebacker yesterday.
Last season for Lincoln he had six picks and two were to the house.
If you’re a Husky fan who’s been around for awhile, you remember a guy by the name of Lester Towns — who also played linebacker for Washington back during the 90’s, and Simon is similar to Towns in his style, skillset, and the fact that he could bulk up in the weight room (Towns came in at 225 and wound up at around 245 in the NFL). Towns was physically gifted — and so is Simon.
When asked what he feels his biggest strengths are on the field, he said “My coverage skills”, and this stands out on film as well.
Simon is very intuitive and obviously has a very high football IQ — his body type and ability to run inside/out to the ball is the skillset Washington likes to see in their inside linebackers.
Right now it’s still very early in the process for Simon, but he says he hopes to have his decision next summer.
