Playing last year at Blue Ridge School, in St George, Virginia, 6’8” 2017 Aamir Simms spent a lot of time playing in the shadow of 6’9” 2016 Mamadi Diakie. That is, until the state championship game where Simms stepped up to lead his team to the win.
Ever since that game, Simms confidence and game has been on an upward slope. He received an invite to the prestigious Virginia Top 80, where he continued to excel among the best of his peers. In a recap of the Virginia Top 80 we wrote, “Sims was one of the five best performers in camp. Not only is he very talented, but he works very hard and takes well to coaching. Sims Camp Coach Craig Dawson stated, “Aamir has big time talent. While he has a tendency to drift on the perimeter, he has good low post moves. Aamir has an excellent shooting stroke.” While Sims is still young and figuring it out, it is easy to see all the talent that is in there. Keep an eye on this one.”
After the Virginia Top 80, Simms starting playing on the grassroots scene with Team Loaded and he continued his stellar play. His recruitment started with Hofstra offering in April and since he has picked up offers from schools in the Big East, ACC, AAC, A 10, Big 12, and more. Simms says, “I now have 11 offers. The Virginia Tech Hokies are recruiting me the hardest, however I grew up a Virginia fan. Georgetown, Virginia, Clemson, UConn, and Wake Forest haven’t offered yet, but I hear from them often.”
Obviously, jumping from no offers to eleven offers Simms had a great Grassroots season. His Team Loaded Coach Tladi Conway said of Simms, “Aamir played really well. At the beginning you could see a little fatigue from all the camps and visits in June. But he got back into a groove in Myrtle Beach and that continued into right into New York, Richmond, and Vegas. For a little while he started to rely on his jumper, but eventually got back to his bread and butter (which is his post game). That opened up his perimeter play and his jumper started falling.”
For the next level, the preferred style of play is wide open. Simms says, “My versatility is my best quality. I can play in any style, fast or slow.” Coach Conway echoes Simms sentiments, “To be honest I think it all depends on his development this year. I’d like to develop him more on the perimeter more. Right now he is so versatile, he can fit into pretty much any type of system. He is able to get up and down with the best of them or he can slow it down and play a grind it out type of offense.”
As for Simms experience at the Virginia Top 80, he said it really helped his recruitment and game, “It opened my eyes to realize I’m not the only player that can put the ball in the basket, defend, rebound, and run the floor. It really helped by you (Jamie) and Rick putting me out there. Letting the world know of the emergence of Aamir Simms.”
In the coming weeks Simms will be visiting campuses and attending elite camps. As we stated in March, watch out for this one he is a Top 100 player.