As Simmons is assigned No. 36, Mullen cautions numbers aren't final
Mississippi State’s provisional roster lists five-star defensive end signee Jeffery Simmons with the No. 36, the same number former Mississippi State player Nick Bell wore.
Bell played his last game for Mississippi State in September 2010. He died in November of that year at the age of 20 after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in October. Not long before his death, he found out the tumor was cancerous and there was also a mass on his lung.
2010 was coach Dan Mullen’s first year at the school. As a tribute to Bell, the No. 36 jersey Bell wore in his time at the school has been a rotational jersey since his playing career ended and hasn’t been assigned to anyone.
Simmons was charged with simple assault and disturbing the peace after he was captured on video punching a woman in an apartment complex parking lot. MSU’s top recruit, he was given a one-game suspension and allowed to enroll at the university with conditions in June.
So why does Simmons have Bell’s number? According to Mullen, it’s not permanent.
“That’s not finalized yet,” Mullen said. “I think they posted the numbers with some discussions we’re going to have. That’s something we’re going to continue to look at. It was an idea that was brought up of – one of the things – I think with retire numbers sometimes, especially ones that have meaningful things to programs. I learned this as a young coach at Syracuse University where it’s a very special honor to wear the number 44. And, you know, I think it — the best way you can honor numbers is by having people wear them, but understand and respect what it takes to wear that number and what you’re representing in wearing that number.”
“And so that’s something we had discussed and we’re looking forward to. Even though I know when the roster came out yesterday, I think every freshman blew me up: Why am I in this jersey number? And I said, That’s not finalized yet, we just kind of assigned it off what locker you’re going to be in right now and what number that coincides with.”
The Jim Brown comparison is certainly an odd one, but it fit with the weird defense of Simmons theme Mullen displayed during media days on Tuesday.
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When Bell’s mother was told by WBRC 6 about Simmons’ jersey number assignment, the station said her first words were “Oh no” and she said she was disappointed if Simmons wound up wearing her son’s number.
“Maybe the young man (Simmons) can learn from wearing my son’s jersey number. Nick was a young man who stood for what was right, and perhaps this young man can look to Nick for inspiration.” Linda continued, saying, “I know in my heart what the number 36 means to me as well as others. I know that Nick was kind and generous, and I hope that if this young man winds up wearing my son’s jersey number it can help get his life in order.”
Or, if the number situation truly wasn’t permanent like Mullen said, there’s a simple solution that would have avoided this conflict in the first place: not assigning the No. 36 to anyone, or even not assigning freshmen numbers entirely.
Apparently that was too simple.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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