Simmons returns after short stay in Florida

Del'Javon Simmons hoped for a better academic environment when he transferred from Burke to a private school in Florida last month. What the three-sport star got was a taste of the real world -- and a job.

Simmons arrived in the Tampa Bay area in mid-August and enrolled at Oldsmar Christian School in Oldsmar, Fla. The school's first day of class was Aug. 17. Simmons was back in Charleston eight days later. Today, he'll be the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs, who travel to North Charleston to take on the 2-0 Cougars.

Simmons, the Region 6-AA player of the year in 2008, said he hasn't missed a beat after returning to practice after a two-week hiatus.

The Bulldogs could have used Simmons in last week's opening loss to St. John's. He was waiting to get the eligibility green light from the High School League.

"I'm ready to play," Simmons said. "It didn't take me long. Practice hasn't been hard. It's been sort of easy and fun."

Burke athletic director and football coach Earl Brown said Simmons learned a life lesson.

"He didn't know the situation he was getting into," Brown said. "He was working and he was tired. He called me and said, 'Come get me.' I told him no because, 'I didn't send you down there.' "

Brown said students who play for the Oldsmar Christian School have to work to help offset the cost of fielding a basketball team. On that day, Brown said, Simmons was working at a concession stand at a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game. Brown said players also sold concessions at other Tampa Bay professional sporting events.

"The classes and stuff were easy, but I didn't like the environment, the stuff going on," said Simmons, who was cleared by the High School League to play in tonight's game at North Charleston. "I don't want to talk about specifics."

According to the Oldsmar Christian's Web site, students must pay a $575 enrollment fee and monthly tuition of $370.

Simmons said his mentor was going to pay the tuition, and the cost of room and board would have been practically nothing since he and three other players lived with basketball coach Larry Bache and his wife.

Simmons said another local player, Raashad Richardson of James Island, also transferred to the school and lived with the Baches.

Brown said he understood why Simmons was uncomfortable with his situation at Oldsmar.

"Staying at someone else's house, you don't get up and go to that refrigerator when you feel like it," Brown said. "You might feel like there's some restrictions. We all know what it's like to stay at a friend's or family member's house for a couple of days. You can't do whatever you want when you are in somebody else's house."

Simmons said he made the decision to transfer after talking to Richardson of James Island. Simmons and Richardson played AAU basketball for a team in the Augusta area, and Brown said in an earlier interview that Simmons' AAU coach persuaded him to transfer to Oldsmar Christian.

But Simmons said his AAU coach did not influence his decision.

Brown admitted he was angry after Simmons transferred.

"This kid and some of the others have been around me since they were 8 years old," he said. "They have to live with their decisions. But they know me as a man, as a coach, as the father some of them never had or the friend they never had. They know me as a man who is going to love them no matter what.

"Del'Javon realized he made a mistake. He had an opportunity to see it wasn't like it was promised to be. Someone misled this kid. But a positive came out of it."