Leston Simpson had a problem. He was a football player at a school, Forest Hills, without a football program. He desperately wanted to transfer to Campus Magnet, and pestered his mother, Heather Francis, almost daily. The summer before his junior year, she finally relented.
“That,” he said, “changed everything.”
Simpson has the scholarship to prove it.
The dynamic 6-foot-4, 225-pound defensive end, who spent one year at Lackawanna College (Pa.), signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Minnesota recently, becoming the second former Campus Magnet player to land at the Big 10 school. His cousin, Jeff Wills, started all 13 games at right tackle for the Gophers last year.
“It feels great, I’m not overexcited, but I’m happy,” he said. “I know after next week it’s going to be a journey. I have to work, I have to push myself physically, mentally and spiritually. I’m ready to get there and make an early impact. They are going to get the best out of me when I go there.”
Campus Magnet coach Eric Barnett had high expectations for Simpson even before he landed at the Cambria Heights school. Simpson helped the Springfield Rifles to the Senior Midget Division nationals while he was at Forest Hills.
“I knew then Leston was Division I,” Barnett said.
His junior year he saw playing time before exploding as a senior, racking up 57 tackles and six sacks. Still, the only offers he had were from Division II programs, so he went to Lackawanna.
“It bothered me,” he said. “I thought, ‘What do I have to do for these schools to give me a shot, at least look at my film.’ There are a lot of things that are motivating me right now. I have a chip on my shoulder and a lot to prove.”
After one season at Lackawanna, that wasn’t a problem. At the junior college’s annual spring game, several schools expressed interest in Simpson. In addition to Minnesota, NC State, Akron, and Pittsburgh also liked him. But Minnesota was the only school that had a scholarship ready for this fall.
“Minnesota give me the opportunity to come in the fall and show what I can do right away,” said Simpson, who plans to study nutrition at Minnesota. “A number of schools wanted me to come [next] January, offering me a scholarship, but Minnesota wanted me to come now. I’d rather have three years of eligibility.”
“When I went up there, I fell in love with everything. The school is great.”