Simms Changes Tune, Will Consider Draft

Chris Simms, the Texas quarterback who said last summer it would be “ludicrous” to consider turning pro after this season, said Tuesday night he plans to think about entering the NFL draft.

“I think it would be stupid for me not to listen to a few opinions here and there and hear what people have to say,” said Simms, who has a school-record 22 touchdown passes with one regular-season game left for the No. 5 Longhorns (9-1).

“I’m not saying I’m going to come out, or anything like that, but I’m definitely going to listen to what people say.”

Simms, a junior, said he would have to consider all options for his future should he finish the season strong. Any decision would likely be made in consultation with his father, Phil, a former NFL quarterback and now a broadcaster.

“If I do come back I’ll at least hear what people had to say about me, where I need to improve in my game,” Simms said. “But I’m definitely going to leave that door open.”

In the summer, Simms rejected speculation that he would turn pro after this season.

“That’s ludicrous,” he told The Associated Press then. “Even if I had the greatest year in the history of college football. There’s no way.”

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Florida State wide receiver Talman Gardner missed his second consecutive practice because of post-concussion headaches.

Gardner sustained a concussion during the 21st-ranked Seminoles’ 34-28 loss to North Carolina State on Saturday. Coach Bobby Bowden expects Gardner, a junior who has 11 touchdowns this season, to return to practice today.

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Terrence Edwards is back in the starting lineup for No. 23 Georgia. Musa Smith, on the other hand, may be done for the year.

Coach Mark Richt said that Edwards reclaimed his starting job with a six-catch, 124-yard performance against Auburn.

Smith, Georgia’s leading rusher with 488 yards, has been plagued all season by a chronic groin pull. Richt and his staff are considering shutting down the sophomore for the final three games.

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Alex Brown of Florida, Rocky Calmus of Oklahoma, Dwight Freeney of Syracuse and Julius Peppers of North Carolina are the finalists for the Lombardi Award, given to the top college lineman.

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The Insight.com Bowl, this year affiliated with the Big East and Big 12 conferences, will match teams from the Pacific 10 and Big East next year.

Under the new format, the Big East will send either its second-or third-place team or Notre Dame, if the Fighting Irish are available after the bowl championship series selections.

The Pac-10 will send its fourth-place team.

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A Rocky Mountain College player pleaded innocent to charges that he assaulted an official moments after a game.

Linebacker Marlon Grier is accused of attacking umpire Rick Deady from behind following Rocky Mountain’s 31-28 overtime loss to Montana State University-Northern on Saturday. Witnesses said the 5-foot-11, 230-pound player sprinted about 60 yards to Deady, then knocked him to the ground. Grier was taken into custody at the field.