In the fourth quarter of the 2024 Big 12 Championship Game, one member of the Arizona State defense was ejected for a targeting call.
That player is senior safety Shamari Simmons, who crushed Iowa State’s Rocco Becht on a third down stop, which was reviewed and confirmed as targeting.
Simmons was ejected from the contest due to the hit, and by rule, he will be unavailable for the Sun Devils first-round matchup in the College Football Playoff.
Simmons, a 6-foot senior from Alabama, is a big loss for ASU as one of the team’s leading tacklers. In 2024, Simmons recorded 64 total tackles, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and one interception.
The Alabama native spent the past two seasons in Tempe after starting his career at Austin Peay. Coming out of Clay Central High School in the Class of 2019, Simmons was an unranked prospect with zero collegiate offers. He elected to walk on at Austin Peay, where he worked his way into a three-star prospect in the transfer portal.
While Arizona State’s commanding victory over Iowa State in the Big 12 Championship Game should be enough to earn the team a bye in the 12-team playoff, higher-ups on the CFP Committee have been standing in the way of the Big 12 Conference for weeks now.
Still, after a blowout win against a Top 20 team in the title gam, Kenny Dillingham’s squad has every ounce of momentum heading into post-season play.
