Joshua Simmons and his family made the difficult decision to transfer over from the Normandy School District here to FHSD back in 2013. Last year, Simmons had to make another tough decision: either stay at FHN and drive himself everyday or go back to Normandy for his final year of high school. In the end, the senior linebacker made the decision to drive 30 minutes everyday to get himself back to FHN.

“FHN is my family,” Simmons said. “This is where I belong, as a student, as an athlete and on a personal level. This is where I wanted to end my high school career.”

Since his move over, Simmons has become extremely involved within FHN, most notably, within the football team. Since he joined the team back in his freshman year, the senior has been able to work all the way up to a starting linebacker position on the varsity roster. He’s also been able to gain the respect of his teammates, as he received the most votes among the rest of his team to become one of the team captains for the 2018 football season.

“He’s been the same every year,” Head Football Coach Brett Bevill said. “He comes to practice everyday, he works very hard, he works in the offseason. He usually does the right stuff on the field, but at the same time he is very vocal about getting everybody else ready. I can see why the team picked him to be captain.”

While Simmons is highly involved with the football team, he is also involved with making an impact within the school. He currently is a member of the  club Students for FHN and is also a varsity athlete on the school’s wrestling team.

“What I like about Simmons is that he’s very involved within the school,” Bevill said. “A lot of times, you have guys who are just football players, but he will do a lot of stuff inside FHN to help improve it.”

No matter where he is within the school, there is always one feature that manages to remain the same: his undying determination. Whether it be in the middle of a tough game or at practice, Simmons is usually the one to get loud and hype up the team to try and inspire everybody to give it their all, all of the time.

“He inspires the team by bringing us all together,” senior and fellow linebacker Conor Cronin said. “With all the hardships on the team, not everyone is going to get along. But when you yell at somebody and just get everybody together as a family the way he does, it really is inspiring.”

In the end, it doesn’t matter if he’s the flashiest or greatest player on the field. When it comes down to the love of the school and for his team, Simmons always gives 100 percent both on and off of the 100-yard football field.

“I feel like with the experiences I’ve gotten here, I can only express it by being the way I am, and that’s what I like about being here,” Simmons said.