Pioneer running back Antjuan Simmons became the latest Michigan native to turn his back on his home state in favor of an archrival on March 1, picking the Buckeyes as his future collegiate home. On Monday, he transformed that decision from notable oddity to full-on performance art.
Simmons attends Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor. Pioneer happens to be so close to the Michigan campus that one can literally see Michigan Stadium from the Pioneer parking lot. He made sure to point that out via Twitter.
Losing a top recruit so close to home is painful for any school. For Michigan and coach Jim Harbaugh to lose Simmons is particularly galling, not only because of his years spent within spitting distance of Michigan Stadium, but also because of the way he feels about Ohio State.
“It’s just like home, so it doesn’t matter to me at all,” Simmons told our friends at the Detroit Free Press “Ohio State, they’ve been out there since I started getting all those offers and stuff and didn’t look back,”. My mom loves OSU; they’ve been recruiting her really hard, too, and they really jumped out there with her, too.”