The legend began back in 1997. He was just a kid, a cocky freshman who got mixed in with some of the big boys. They were half-a-head taller and had boxes of letters from D-I coaches. Still, Marvin Simmons never got intimidated, which explains why on the first day of tackling drills for Compton's powerful Dominguez High, he blasted star running back Willie Hurst, a soon-to-be Washington Husky. On the next play, Simmons hammered David Relf, now a UNLV wideout. And then on his third play, the 5-9ish, 165-pound Simmons slammed into Eric Manning -- a 6-3, 275-pounder who wound up a standout DT for Oregon State. Simmons wasn't supposed to be up with the varsity, but those plans immediately all changed. Simmons became the first freshman to start at Dominguez.

His legend only grew from there.

One day he bodyslammed a 320-pound lineman named Big Bubba in the middle of the field. "Everybody was afraid of Big Bubba, except Marvin," says Charles Thomas, a Dominguez coach who had know Simmons since the kid first played for him in tiny mite football. "Marvin never feared anything. And there weren't too many people Marvin couldn't get the best of."

	Marvin Simmons thought he would end up at USC. Instead, he's heading to K-State.

Simmons transferred to Long Beach Poly two years later. He committed to UCLA as a 16-year-old. Then ran a 4.39 forty at a Nike combine. He had 15 sacks and an amazing 20 forced fumbles as a senior. Simmons later committed to USC. His older brother Melvin, a starting linebacker at Washington State, even transferred to Troy. But Marvin Simmons didn't meet eligibility requirements. There had been rumors that he might end up at UNLV with his old buddy Jason Thomas, but instead he surfaced last season at Compton College and made 125 tackles and 13 sacks last fall.

All the college scouts figured he was a lock to be a Trojan. As did Simmons himself. But about a month before Signing Day, Simmons' father, Melvin Sr., had a talk with Trojan coach Peter Carroll, who said USC might not have a scholarship for Marvin till May or June.

Word is USC had hoped Simmons could enroll and join the team for spring ball, but academically, he couldn't, so the Trojans had cooled a bit. "I just don't think they showed as much interest in the time period when they should've," Marvin Simmons says. "I felt as if they might've been waited on a high school player to see if he was gonna pass his tests. But then I started thinking, 'What if he does pass? Then what? Am I ass-out looking for a place to go?'"

Fortunately for Simmons, around that time, Bret Bielema, K-State's co-D-coordinator and linebackers coach, was talking to Compton coach Cornell Ward about another of his linebackers John Andrews. However when Ward told him Andrews was headed for UNLV, he did mention that Compton had another big-time linebacker around. A guy who ran a 4.4, bench pressed 225 pounds 36 times and could run through a brick wall. That guy was Marvin Simmons.

Bielema and coach Bill Snyder flew out to see Simmons and invited the 20-year-old linebacker to Manhattan, Kansas for a visit that weekend. A few days later, Pete Carroll invited Simmons to Troy, but by then Simmons had fallen for K-State. "It's the most impressed I've ever been with any coaches," he says.

It also didn't hurt that the Wildcats were losing their star middle linebacker Terry Pierce, a junior, to the NFL. Simmons hung out with (returning starting LBs) Josh Buhl and Bryan Hickman on his visit and began his crash course on the Wildcat defense. "I felt like I really fit in there," he says.

Bielema agrees. He loves Simmons' charisma and how can run and react. "Plus, he's a three for three guy and that's a huge advantage," Bielema adds, pointing out that unlike most JC transfers, Simmons actually will be a sophomore eligibility-wise.

Simmons says he doesn't view replacing Pierce as pressure, though. "I look at it as more of a responsibility," he says. "I really think this is gonna be a beautiful thing."

One other thing to keep in mind with K-State's recent coup, Marvin is just one of eleven kids. Younger brother Marlin, a top prep linebacker who will be a senior at Poly, is now favoring K-State and Tennessee. Then, there are sophomores twins Marcel, a cornerback and Marcello, a linebacker, who should be impact guys for Poly next fall.

Nate The Great
OK, this may sound weird, but the most exciting player in college basketball is actually a cornerback.

Anyone doubting just how dynamic a talent Washington freshman Nate Robinson only needed to watch a game he played against Stanford, where he took over and finished with 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field. The 5-9, 180-pound point guard with the 41-inch vertical even threw down a nasty put-back dunk over 6-8 Josh Childress.

At first, it seemed like Robinson was just a change-of-pace guy for the Huskies, but he has proven to be much more than that. He's averaging 13 points and almost four rebounds per game. In fact, he has been so impressive that U-Dub football fans have to be sweating his eventual decision. Even though, Robinson says he'd like to stick with both sports, he realizes at some point he'll have to make a decision. "I feel like that decision is coming soon," Robinson told ESPN.com Tuesday. "And if I have to choose, it would be basketball. I really love it. In football you can get hurt faster."

Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel, a big U-Dub hoops fan, though is trying to make Robinson's decision harder. This spring he is allowing Robinson to go both ways and is letting him work as a slot receiver, which the freshman is pretty excited about since he saw how well another former AAU basketball star Chris Gamble did playing both ways for Ohio State. Robinson, Neuheisel hopes, will take some of the heat of Washington's star wideout Reggie Williams.

Robinson says he will still maintain his habit of shooting an hour of jump shots before and after football practice to stay sharp. He also says he isn't content with just being a two-sport star. After the basketball season ends, he also will start working out with the Huskies' track team as a hurdler and long jumper. "I'm just one of those people whose always gotta be doing something."

Apparently.

Random Notes