Simpson signs with SCC

FHS senior baseball standout Austin Simpson signed to play for Southeastern Community College in West Burlington on Thursday afternoon and was surrounded by friends, family and coaches.

Austin

Q: Talk about your day.

A: I've been waiting all day to sign so it went kind of slow, but nothing went wrong and it was a pretty good day overall.

Q: This is a day you've been waiting for, feeling some relief?

A: Yeah, it feels pretty good that it's finally official and I know where I'm going and this is just another step in the plan that God has for me. It's very exciting and I'm ready to start working again and start getting after it.

Q: What are your goals for next year?

A: When they showed me around campus, it really felt like home and they told me they want me in the middle of the order. They talked about some of the other guys that they are looking at and I really liked the facilities and had a great experience there opening up to the coaches.

Q: Talk about your comeback.

A: It was tough. I don't know what rock bottom feels like, but for me, that felt like it. I didn't like it and I knew I couldn't play basketball or baseball with that much weight on my knees. I had to lose it and coming back from an ACL tear is just terrible as it is and then when you add 40-50 pounds, it sucks too. It's still a long process trying to keep the weight off and it's not easy at all, but I'm here and I have the body type I want and it feels good to finally sign. It's like a relief has been lifted off my shoulders.

Q: Talk about the opportunity with your sister here to lay the foundation for her to follow.

A: It's just great having such a great family and supporting cast that includes my coaches and of course my trainer, Brady Hill, and Adam from Universal Therapy who has done so much for me since my ACL tear and it was amazing to have them walk into my life. They feel like a gift from God, hidden among all the pains that I had to go through. Obviously, my family is here and the people that couldn't make it sent lots of texts and I feel a lot of love from my supporting cast.

Hannah

Q: Talk about enjoying this day with your brother.

A: It's pretty cool to experience to see because I'm just a freshman and he's a senior. It's pretty exciting for me to see him leave home, but I think it's also going to be sad joking around and playing sports, but I definitely plan on following in his footsteps.

Dad

Q: Talk about leading up to this day.

A: It's been a long process. Ever since he was in Babe Ruth he's wanted to play at the collegiate level today finally came but he's worked hard to get here. He tore his ACL sophomore year, which was an important recruiting year for him and he was released in March and we just weren't ready for him to travel to get out and get exposed and that slowed the process. Getting him out to Impact Fitness and really getting him in shape and doing physical therapy was really important and he had to get his mental state right and it took a lot of hard work and long hours but he got there. All of the colleges that wanted him to work out and go to camps was overwhelming at times but to finally find a home over at Southeastern, where it's close to home and the family can go over and watch him, it was special. Seeing their facilities, it was a perfect fit for him because he didn't want to settle with just a four-year college. Southeastern will make him a better player than he is now and then he hopes to transfer to a D-1 school in a year or two.