Junior wide receiver Pat Simonds, from Sidney, New York, led Colgate in receiving last season. He caught 65 passes for 1,136 yards and nine touchdowns while earning first team all-Patriot League honors. He will enter the 2009 season in 10th place in career receptions with 105 and eighth place in career receiving yardage with 1,785 yards. Last fall, he became only the fifth player in school history to go over 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR DOWNTIME? Away from football I like to enjoy a more relaxing lifestyle. In my downtime I like to go fishing and watch movies but I mostly enjoy traveling.
WHO HELPED YOU THE MOST ALONG THE WAY? It is hard to really give one person all of the credit for helping me get to this stage in my life but the most supportive people to me have been my very close friends and family.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLGATE FOOTBALL MOMENT? Although there have been a couple of moments that have stuck out over the past three years, I would still say there is nothing better than the feeling of winning the League Championship. It meant so much to succeed after putting so much time and effort into both the off season and the regular season and to just enjoy that with the guys who have been through it all with you.
WHAT DID IT MEAN TO YOU TO WIN THE ANDY KERR TROPHY AS COLGATE OFFENSIVE MVP IN 2008? I was very honored to win the Offensive MVP and as some of the guys will tell you I was very unsuspecting of the award. There are a lot of guys who I had thought should have won it over myself but I am very humbled by that type of recognition.
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE 2009 SEASON? There are many goals that our team has for the upcoming season but I believe the number one goal is to continue to dominate throughout the league and win another Championship. We want to perfect the fundamentals and outwork opposing teams and if this happens we feel that will put ourselves into the driver’s seat for another successful season.
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE ANYONE EVER GAVE YOU? The best advice that I have ever received was to never sell yourself short. Nothing is out of reach and if there is a goal that you have in life than it can be reached only by desire and hard work...and I guess a little bit of luck too.
YOUR ONE UNBREAKABLE RULE IS? My number one unbreakable rule is to just have fun. I try to enjoy everything I do and if you are not having fun doing whatever that may be then you aren't getting the most out of life.