2022: Played in one game as a first-year quarterback for the Lions … Made his college debut against Dartmouth (Oct. 22).

HIGH SCHOOL: A December 2021 graduate of The Christ School in Asheville, N.C. where he played two seasons at The Christ School … Earned All-NCISAA All-State honors … Presented with the Charlotte Observer Heisman Runner-Up award in 2020 … Earned the Scholar-Athlete award in 2019 … Named to the North Carolina Blue Sheet All-Academic Team … Earned iMeck All-Conference honors in 2019 … In three-year career, threw for 5,862 yards, 54 touchdowns with a completion percentage of 61 percent … Threw for 1,768 yards passing, 15 touchdowns and completed 62 percent of his passes as a senior at The Christ School … Threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns, completed 86 percent of his passes and also ran for 43 yards and a touchdown in only one half of action vs. Charlotte County during senior season … Threw for 1,888 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and completed 69 percent of his passes as a junior … Led the state (private schools) in yards passing, touchdown passes, completion percentage, quarterback rating, and total offense in 2020 … Led Greenies to a state championship in 2020, the school’s first-ever state title in football … Threw for 2,206 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and completed 53 percent of his passes as a sophomore … Transferred and reclassified following his junior year once the COVID-19 pandemic broke … Played and attended Hopewell High School during junior year … Played and attended his first two years of high school at Charlotte Christian High School … Served as team captain in 2018 and 2019 … Played for the Carolina Stars 7v7 team for five years … Rated as a three-star recruit by On3 and rated as a two-star recruit by 247sports.com … Earned a total of five varsity letters, including four in football and one in track and field … Also competed in track and field and baseball … Two-year member of the National Honor Society … Earned the school’s Scholar-Athlete award in 2019 … Two-year member of the Head of School High Honor Roll … Involved in a variety of community service activities including Take on Sports, Toys for Tots, and Salvation Army … Hosted a podcast for his school’s broadcast network with two of his teammates called “Coaches Corner,” where they interviewed coaches every two weeks … The group earned 10^th place in the National Scholastic Press Association Best Show Award for an episode … Also served as a weatherman for his school’s news broadcast.

PERSONAL: Born Austin James Simpkins on December 21, 2002 in Yorba Linda, Calif. … Son of Brad and Kelly Simpkins … Has an older sister Bailey … Father graduated from Southern California, while mother graduated from Cal Poly Pomona … Mother was an All-American softball player at Cal Poly Pomona in 1990 and 1991 and also tried out for the Olympics … Father served as a strength and conditioning coach at Southern Cal … Aunt studied at Columbia for a summer and also completed her post-doc at Harvard … Nickname is A.J. … Hobbies and interests include working on his truck, an old 1998 Dodge Ram that he inherited from his grandfather … Also learned to snow ski when he was second and learned to surf when he was five … Role model is his father because he is hard-working and sets a great example of being a great man, always has his back, and pushes him to be as great as I can be … Favorite sports memory was throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass in the 2020 state title game … Plays football because of the camaraderie, his love of the game, the fact that it requires one to be disciplined and tough, and also requires one to play for others and not just yourself … Selected Columbia to play football, gain an education that will set him up for success, the coaching staff and players who he’s met, and to explore all that Columbia and New York City has to offer … Chose Columbia over offers from Yale, Miami, Akron, Campbell, Ohio, Fordham, Lehigh, Arkansas State, Liberty, Kent State, Lenoir-Rhyne, Northwestern, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Louisville … Enrolled at Columbia College … Intends to major in Financial Economics.

AJ Simpkins