It wasn?t being 1,100 miles away from home in Miami that was the most difficult for Chad Simpson. It was being away from his infant daughter, Chassidy.
But the 5-foot-10, 216-pound running back took a chance, transferring from South Florida after the 2005 season to help turn around a downtrodden team at Morgan State. Simpson?s pure speed and shifty athleticism is believed by several football analysts to put him among the 252 players who will be selected in the seven-round National Football League Draft in New York City this weekend.
For Simpson, however, playing on the sport?s biggest stage is not about the glory, but providing a better life for his family and his 1-year old daughter.
“Florida is what I knew, but once things started playing straight with football, I knew I was all right,” Simpson said as he played with his daughter in his Miami home. “It?s just going out there and being me. Going out there is what got me to this point in the first place.”
Simpson was named an all-state honorable mention as a senior at Miami?s Edison High School in 2003, earning him a roster spot at South Florida. As a Bull, he provided one of the team?s biggest plays of the season as a sophomore, returning a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown in a 45-14 upset of ninth-ranked Louisville. Simpson finished the 2005 season ranked in the top 25 in kickoff returns, averaging 25.6 yards per attempt.
But the talented underclassman wanted a chance to shine as a featured running back. He talked with former high school teammate and Morgan State rising senior linebacker Jerell Guyton, and decided it was worth transferring from the bright lights of a Football Bowl Subdivision school to the lower-regarded Football Championship Subdivision.
“It was a hard decision he had to make,” Mary Simpson, Chad?s mother, said. “He didn?t want to leave [Chassidy] behind, but if he didn?t go, he wouldn?t have a future, and he took that chance. I told him, ?When you go to Baltimore, you can make a better life for her as well.?”
And that?s exactly what he tried to do.
After rushing for 795 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior, Simpson opened eyes around the nation this fall. He rushed for a Morgan-state record 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns on 276 carries and gaining numerous All-American honors. His 127.5 rushing yards per game ranked ninth in the FCS and his 161.8 all-purpose yards per game were second.
But after the season ended, he had to prove himself all over again.
Too small? Simpson was listed at 205 pounds during the season but showed up for workouts at 216.
Too slow? Simpson ran the 40-yard dash in 4.42 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, one of the fastest times. At a workout for the Miami Dolphins earlier this month, he reportedly ran the same distance in 4.35 seconds.
He has met with about a dozen NFL teams, working out for the Ravens, Dolphins and numerous others who attended the school?s pro day at Morgan State last month.
“The question with him is elusiveness and change of direction,” Mel Kiper, ESPN?s draft analyst, said. “How he translates going from Morgan State to the NFL ? I think he is probably, maybe, a seventh-round draft pick. I?d say right now he goes undrafted and goes to a camp as more of a marginal prospect. I don?t see him as a draftable player this year.”
But Simpson disagrees. He?s been doubted his entire career, but it hasn?t stopped him from envisioning playing on Sundays.
“I?ve been working so hard, and have been the underdog all my life,” he said. “For me to make it to the combine and have a big shot at getting drafted ? not a good shot ? makes me know I?m getting drafted.”
