Linebacker, Clemson, 2016–19
Isaiah Simmons
- Number
- No. 11
- Height
- 6′4″
- Weight
- 230 lb
- Class (2019)
- Junior
- Hometown
- Olathe, KS
- Born
- Jul 26, 1998
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Isaiah Simmons played linebacker at Clemson (2016–19). He led the 2018 national champions in tackles. He won the 2019 Butkus Award. He was a consensus All‑American in 2019. The Arizona Cardinals took Simmons in the first round, No. 8 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.
At a glance
Career highs
11tackles, career hightwice; last at Syracuse, 20192sacks, career hightwice; last at Louisville, 2019Honors
- 2018Led the national champions in tackles
- 2019Butkus Award
- 2019Consensus All‑American
- 2019ACC Defensive Player of the Year
Team titles: National champions, 2016 and 2018; ACC champions, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019
Players of the year, conference and regional honors: Wikipedia’s lists (CC BY-SA), each linked from its honor.
Defense
Season lines from CollegeFootballData, regular season and bowls. A dash: the source has no number for that season (often an FCS season), and career totals count only the numbers on file.
On the roster
| Season | Team | No. | Pos | Class | Ht | Wt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Clemson | 11 | LB | Yr 1 | ||
| 2017 | Clemson | 11 | LB | Yr 2 | ||
| 2018 | Clemson | 11 | LB | Yr 3 | ||
| 2019 | Clemson | 11 | LB | Jr. (Yr 4) | 6′4″ | 230 |
As each season’s roster listed the player (CollegeFootballData). Classes before the latest listing are counted back from it; “Yr 1” is the year on file where that count can’t place a season he played (a redshirt, transfer or 2020 year); height and weight as last listed.
Game by game
2019 Clemson 15 games, 104 tackles, 8 sacks, 3 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 29 | vs. Georgia Tech | W 52–14 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 7 | vs. Texas A&M | W 24–10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 14 | at Syracuse | W 41–6 | 11 | 8 | 3.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 21 | vs. Charlotte | W 52–10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 28 | at North Carolina | W 21–20 | 10 | 5 | 2.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Oct 12 | vs. Florida State | W 45–14 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 19 | at Louisville | W 45–10 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Oct 26 | vs. Boston College | W 59–7 | 5 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nov 2 | vs. Wofford | W 59–14 | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nov 9 | at NC State | W 55–10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 16 | vs. Wake Forest | W 52–3 | 5 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 30 | at South Carolina | W 38–3 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Dec 7 | vs. Virginia | W 62–17 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Dec 28 ✦ | vs. Ohio State | W 29–23 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jan 13 ✦ | vs. LSU | L 25–42 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
2018 Clemson 14 games, 79 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1 | vs. Furman | W 48–7 | 5 | 4 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 8 | atTexas A&M | W 28–26 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 15 | vs. Georgia Southern | W 38–7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 22 | atGeorgia Tech | W 49–21 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 29 | vs.Syracuse | W 27–23 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 6 | atWake Forest | W 63–3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 20 | vs.NC State | W 41–7 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oct 27 | atFlorida State | W 59–10 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 3 | vs.Louisville | W 77–16 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Nov 10 | atBoston College | W 27–7 | 3 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 17 | vs. Duke | W 35–6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Nov 24 | vs.South Carolina | W 56–35 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 1 | vs. Pittsburgh | W 42–10 | 7 | 4 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dec 29 ✦ | vs. Notre Dame | W 30–3 | 5 | 3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 2 |
2017 Clemson 13 games, 45 tackles, 1 sack
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2 | vs. Kent State | W 56–3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 16 | atLouisville | W 47–21 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 23 | vs.Boston College | W 34–7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 30 | at Virginia Tech | W 31–17 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Oct 7 | vs.Wake Forest | W 28–14 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Oct 13 | atSyracuse | L 24–27 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Oct 28 | vs.Georgia Tech | W 24–10 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 4 | atNC State | W 38–31 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 11 | vs.Florida State | W 31–14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 18 | vs. The Citadel | W 61–3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nov 25 | atSouth Carolina | W 34–10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dec 2 | vs. Miami | W 38–3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Jan 1 ✦ | vs. Alabama | L 6–24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2016 Clemson 1 game, 1 tackle
| Date | Opponent | Result | Tkl | Solo | TFL | Sacks | Int | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 7 | atBoston College | W 56–10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Box scores from CollegeFootballData, 2004 on. ✦ postseason; ★ a career high on file.
Before the draft
| Drill | Combine 2020 | Pro day 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 6′3⅝″ | |
| Weight | 238 lb | |
| Arm length | 33⅜″ | |
| Hand size | 9⅝″ | |
| Wingspan | 81⅞″W | |
| 40-yard dash | 4.39 s | |
| 10-yard split | 1.51 sW | |
| Vertical jump | 39″ | |
| Broad jump | 11′0″ | |
| Bench press | 20 repsW |
Unmarked: Combine and pro day results compiled by array-carpenter (nfl-draft-data); W: Pre-draft measurables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the NFL
7 seasons, 82 games with a stat; latest team: Carolina Panthers.
| Season | Team | G | Tkl | Sacks | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Arizona Cardinals | 16 | 50 | 2 | 1 |
| 2021 | Arizona Cardinals | 17 | 100 | 1.5 | 1 |
| 2022 | Arizona Cardinals | 17 | 94 | 4 | 2 |
| 2023 | New York Giants | 16 | 47 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | New York Giants | 11 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | Carolina Panthers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 (so far) | Carolina Panthers | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| NFL career | 82 | 315 | 8.5 | 5 | |
Regular seasons, from nflverse (CC BY 4.0). G counts games in which the player recorded a stat.
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