NSU Demon Selected for NFLPA All-Star Game

Northwestern State Tight End Corey Simmons has been selected to compete in the NFLPA's all-Star game, the Collegiate Bowl, later this month.

Below is the news release from Doug Ireland with the NSU Sports Information Dept.

NATCHITOCHES – A second Northwestern State senior football player will showcase his ability in an all-star game, as tight end Corey Simmons has accepted an invitation from the NFL Players Association is to play in the 2015 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl Jan. 17 in Carson, Cal., televised by ESPN2.

Demons’ senior cornerback Imoan Claiborne is preparing for the 66^th Annual Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 24, televised by The NFL Network.

Simmons was an All-Southland Conference honorable mention selection as a sophomore in 2012, when he suffered a serious ankle injury late in his first season with the Demons. He made the College Football Performance Awards Tight Ends Watch List for 2013, but his recovery from the injury limited his production during his junior season. Fully recovered, Simmons put together the best scoring season of his career in 2014, notching three touchdowns.

At 6-4, 245-pounds, NFL scouts note Simmons can be a difficult matchup in the red zone. Against McNeese, he came through big in the fourth quarter with a 28-yard touchdown. He posted 28 career catches for 280 yards and five touchdowns in an offense that frequently used four or five wide receivers.

Simmons, regarded as one of the Demons’ team leaders by head coach Jay Thomas and teammates, earned his degree in communications and finished 2013 on the Southland Conference Fall Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

The Lawrenceville, Ga., native, son of two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Clyde Simmons of the Philadelphia Eagles, will compete in the 3 p.m. (CST) all-star game at StubHub Center on the campus of California State University Dominguez Hills.

During next week’s workouts for the game, participants will receive an in-depth introduction to the union – the primary resource for information on the business of football and how to succeed in the NFL and in post-football careers.

Pro football players and coaching legends will work with the game’s participants, giving them first-hand insight on what it takes to win on and off of the field. Former NFL head coaches Mike Holmgren and Mike Martz will serve as the head coaches for the American and National Teams.

ESPNU will also air live broadcasts from practices next Wednesday and Thursday.