Who is the youngest college football player in 2023? What we know about 17 YO Austin Simmons

Austin Simmons enrolled at the University of Mississippi this fall on a football scholarship. This is hardly a piece of information to make headlines the way Simmons has. Except, of course, there’s something special about the kid that has got the college football world raving about him.

For one, Simmons, at 17 years of age, is the youngest player in college football in 2023. But that is only a part of his incredible story. There’s also the part about how he comes from an athletic background and has a visionary father who puts him steps ahead of his agemates.

Meet Austin Simmons, college football’s youngest player in 2023

Most boys of the same age as Austin Simmons have just begun their final year in high school. Not Simmons. The 17-year-old is a quarterback for the Ole Miss Rebels. Simmons only completed his sophomore year in high school before enrolling at Ole Miss.

He had to reclassify from the class of 2025 to 2023. What’s more, he’s earned an associate degree and is set to complete a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine by the time he’s 19.

This isn’t happening by accident or chance. Simmons’ father, David, had it all planned a long time ago.

Simmons was only in the sixth grade when he started taking high school courses online. He was only placed on this path because his father recognized that he had the potential for accelerated learning. And it worked. The boy worked relentlessly to get ahead of his peers, both in academics and as an athlete.

Unsurprisingly, he had fulfilled all high school academic requirements by the time his peers were in ninth grade. In other words, even though he was athletically qualified to compete at the high school level, he had already completed high school. But he wasn’t going to just sit around. He took college courses.

He played for Pahokee High School in South Florida in 2022 and passed for more than 3,000 yards. Being homeschooled and unburdened with the conventional school routine, he had more time to train than his peers. By the time he resumed his high school sophomore season, he’d had experience passing to receivers already on their way to the NFL.

He’d met and trained with players like Chris Olave and Jaylen Waddle during offseason practice with quarterback coach Oliver Bozeman. What Austin Simmons lacks in age, therefore, he makes up for with experience and exposure.