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Wednesday, December 16, 1998     Page: 1B

Prize QB Volunteers services, but not to Penn State
   
And so, Chris Simms is going to TennesseeBe honest Penn State fans, did you
really think it was going to happen?
    Should any of us be all that surprised?
   
After two years of speculation, the 6-foot-5, 218-pound rocket-armed
quarterback from Ramapo High School in New Jersey announced his choice of
college late Tuesday night over Madison Square Garden network’s “SportsDesk”
show.
   
Simms, the son of former New York Giant quarterback Phil Simms, selected
Tennessee over Penn State and Texas.
   
“Gut feeling,” Simms said of his decision not to make State College his
home for the next four years. “It wasn’t the place for me.”
   
Make no mistake, losing a player of Simms’ caliber right out of their own
backyard to the Vols is a major blow to the Nittany Lions, who worked overtime
trying to land the savvy left-hander.
   
“Penn State was in it ’til the very end,” Simms told reporters via a
conference call following the announcement. “When I got back from Penn State
this weekend (Simms took his final visit to Penn State last weekend), it
pretty much was between Tennessee and Texas.
   
“I just didn’t think it was the right situation there.”
   
Simms, of course, went on to say all the right things about coach Joe
Paterno and the Nittany Lions. He said he called offensive coordinator Fran
Ganter with the bad news and thanked him for his loyalty.
   
The niceties, however, did little to make up for the punch in the stomach
Simms delivered to PSU’s football program.
   
“All three schools I was looking at … they’re gonna win,” said Simms, who
threw for 7,055 yards and tossed 63 TDs in his high school career. “It was
just a question of where I fit in. I felt I fit in at Tennessee better than
any other place.”
   
Actually, Penn State should consider itself fortunate to have been in the
running for Simms’ wondrous talents as long as it was.
   
Ask yourself this: If you are Phil Simms, do you really want to send your
son to a program which has cultivated just two big-time quarterbacks (Todd
Blackledge and Kerry Collins) throughout its long and storied history?
   
For all their success, the Lions simply do not develop quarterbacks.
   
In Paterno’s system, the quarterback is just another cog in the machine.
His job on the field is to run plays, not make them.
   
That’s why the veteran coach continues to favor the robotic Kevin Thompson
over the nimble and flashy Rashard Casey, who by now must be wondering how in
the hell he can get out of State College with a marginal degree of sanity, if
not eligibility, left intact.
   
Rest assured, Chris Simms will have no such worries at Tennessee, which
knows what to do with gifted QBs.
   
Just ask Peyton Manning.
   
“I got the feeling from being down there (Tennessee) in October that they
were over that era,” said Simms, referring to the