Font Resize
Simas, a third-year sophomore, has recorded back-to-back 100-yard receiving games the past two weeks against Texas A&M and Iowa State. If he can produce another on Thursday night at Oklahoma State, he will be the first CU receiver to do so since Michael Westbrook had three consecutive triple-digit receiving yardage games in the 1993 season.
Westbrook, the program`s all-time leading receiver, was one of two receivers in CU history to have three consecutive 100-yard games.
His former teammate, Charles E. Johnson, accomplished it twice in one season in 1992. He had six 100-yard games that year, coming in two blocks of three.
Simas smiled when told he could add his name to a list that includes those two former Buffs.
"I`d like to finish out with two nice little games," Simas said. "I`ll get what I can get. If they want to feed me, they will feed me."
Simas joined the Colorado program as a highly recruited talent from Southern California three years ago.
His story is familiar by now to diehard Buffs fans. He redshirted in 2007 and was ineligible in 2008. He started slow this season after being suspended for the first two games, but has come on down the stretch.
He has caught at least two passes in six of the past seven games and is quickly sneaking up on tight end Riar Geer, who is the second leading receiver on the team with 32 catches.
Simas already has overtaken Geer in receiving yards. He has 26 catches for 385 yards. He chalks up his recent success to 'a trust factor` between himself and quarterback Tyler Hansen.
"When he`s got no one else to go to, he definitely looks for me to step up and make a play," Simas said. "That works in both our favor because he has somebody to rely on and I have somebody I can actually look forward to have throwing me the ball."
Hansen said he and Simas began to develop a chemistry together last season when they spent the first part of the season together on scout team. They were the two players who most often made plays against the starting defense and they often made them together.
Simas would have preferred to break out earlier in the season and help his team win a few more games and qualify for the postseason. The game just didn`t slow down for him in time this fall, but he believes he can build on the success he is having in November and it will feed a better season in 2010.
"It`s definitely going to boost the confidence," he said. "It`s reassurance, you know? I`ve still got it in me. It`s going to make me want to work harder in the offseason."
Notable
Offensive line coach Denver Johnson will enjoy a homecoming of sorts Thursday when he returns to Stillwater with the Buffs. Johnson was born in Seminole, Okla., in 1958. He attended Tulsa University where he was a two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference offensive lineman. He began his coaching career at Oklahoma State as a graduate assistant in 1985. He became the Cowboys` offensive line coach in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
