Is more than Texas Tech football in Malcolm Simmons' future?
Malcolm Simmons joined Texas Tech football to boost the receiver corps. The 5-time state champion track and field athlete could help that team, too.
Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire hopes Malcolm Simmons can be one of the Red Raiders' next big-play producers. The Tech staff didn't sign the former Auburn wide receiver out of the NCAA transfer portal for him not to pose a threat to Big 12 defenses. There's a chance Simmons could help another coaching staff on campus even before then.
"He can fly," McGuire said this past week at a Red Raider Club event in Amarillo. "If it works out, he might even try to do a little track with coach (Wes) Kittley in the outdoor season, if it all works out. " More: Texas Tech football giving young offensive player a look on defense More: See plans for Micah Hudson, Coy Eakin in Texas Tech football WR corps Tech lists Simmons at 6-foot and 180 pounds.
He caught 40 passes for 451 yards and 3 touchdowns as an Auburn true freshman in 2024 and caught 25 passes for 457 yards and 3 TDs in 2025. The Red Raiders , one-third of the way through spring practice after Saturday, March 28, are looking at Simmons as an outside receiver, a possible successor to Caleb Douglas or Reggie Virgil. Competing for Benjamin Russell High School, a Class 6A program in Alexander City, Alabama, Simmons was a three-time state champion in the long jump and a two-time state champion in the high jump.
Kittley said McGuire brought up the subject of Simmons possibly doing track and field during a conversation over lunch at Tech's Cash Family Sports Nutrition Center. Kittley called it "a possibility" and one he's open to, though he said they've not discussed it since. "It's actually an easier call probably indoors than it is out, to tell you the truth," Kittley said, "because they haven't started spring ball while we're doing all of our indoor (season).