Simmons comes to the Ruff Riders from Bradenton, Florida, where he played his high school football at national powerhouse Bradenton Manatee, which is also the home of former Nebraska great Tommie Frazier. Simmons started his college career at Butte College. During his two years at Butte, he was considered to be one of the best players on the team and for his outstanding play during his sophomore year he was named the Receiver of the Year at Butte. Simmons finished his college career at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. With Simmons help, IUP was able to advance to the NCAA Division II Playoffs during both of the seasons that he played there. Simmons only has one year of indoor experience with the DC Armor of the AIFA so far, but during that year he was the leading receiver on the team with 45 catches for 935 yards and 13 touchdowns. When asked for comment, Coach King had this to say about the addition of Hinton and Simmons "Joe Hinton and Rickie Simmons are two great athletes. There is a saying in football that "speed kills" and these players definitely have the speed and athleticism to be devastating on a football field. We are privileged to get these two great athletes to come to Abilene and they are going to add to the fun, fast, and explosive brand of football that we are going to play this year."
Saturday, December 18, 2010
The Abilene Ruff Riders are pleased to announce the signing of WR/DB Joe Hinton and WR/DB Rickie Simmons. Hinton comes to the Ruff Riders after previously playing for Ruff Riders Head Coach Shon King with the Quad City Steamwheelers in the Arena Football League 2. Hinton is known to be one of the fastest players in all of football as evidenced by his 4.27 40 yard dash time at the NFL Elite Combine. Before his days in indoor football, Hinton was a star WR/DB at Pearl River Community College in Mississippi despite only playing one year of high school football.
