No one is a bigger fan of Clemson safety Isaiah Simmons more than Mickey Conn. The Tigers safeties’ coach feels Simmons is so talented, he can play defensive end as a third down specialist if they needed him to.

But considering All-Americans Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant are returning to school, and the nation’s No. 3 overall recruit, Xavier Thomas, is already on campus, Clemson is in fine shape at defensive end for years to come.

But that doesn’t take away from how Conn feels about the redshirt freshman.

“He can play anywhere on the field,” the Clemson coach said. “He can play defensive end if you need a blitzer on third down. I mean, really! But we are not moving him to defensive end … I’m just saying he is so talented.”

This past season the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Simmons started for the Tigers’ in Brent Venables’ dime packages or what is known as the dime back as the sixth defensive back on the field on third-and-long situations.

“He has really come on at that position and doing really well,” Conn said. “His upside is incredible.”

Simmons helped Clemson finish fourth nationally in pass defense as he was credited with five passes broken up to go along with his 47 tackles.

Simmons also had three tackles for loss and one sack.

With Van Smith moving on to the NFL, Simmons now becomes one of the leading candidates to replace him, along with redshirt junior Tanner Muse.

“When you bring in a dime package and you see him coming off the edge, the way he can blitz and pressure, he is something else,” Conn said. “And then all of sudden he is so athletic he can drop back and play free safety and cover anybody man-to-man on the field.

“It is unbelievable the talent that he has and we would like to play him more and more and more because he is a super player. He is super talented.”