OLATHE, Kan. -- This is a story about a football freak.

The kind that makes the hair stand up on the back of a defensive coordinator's neck. The kind with a 40-inch vertical leap who can plant a ballcarrier in the ground like a gardenia.

The kind recruiters would have drooled over -- if they had only known about Isaiah Simmons.

Clemson's redshirt junior linebacker has literally played every defensive position on the field this season heading into the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday. To call him a linebacker would be like calling a Swiss Army knife a can opener. 

But you have to call him something. This year, you can choose: Butkus Award winner, ACC Defensive Player of the Year, projected first-round NFL Draft pick.

"You knew he was special," said Jeremy Crabtree, a long-time expert recruiting analyst who now works in Kansas City television. An alumnus of Simmons' Olathe North High School, "Crabby" is especially qualified to help tell this story.

"I saw him play in person four or five times doing high school football on the radio," he said. "For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why he wasn't being recruited heavier than what he was. He was one of those that stood out. He was a no-brainer."

That was a summation of Simmons from four years ago when Arkansas passed on him. That was when Missouri, Kansas and Kansas State showed cursory interest.

That was when Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables got a tip from Crabtree that turned into a program changer. Talk all you want about quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne, the No. 3 Tigers might not be here gunning for their 30th straight win without Simmons.

"I always thought I was good enough to play for the bigger schools," Simmons said. "Obviously, they thought otherwise. Coming out of Kansas, you don't see too many highly-recruited football guys."

Think of Simmons like Chase Young … if he was able to play safety. Think of Ronnie Lott at defensive end.

At the heart of this story is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound tackling assassin who has lined up at safety, cornerback, slot corner, defensive end and linebacker.

"I don't even know [how] to classify myself," Simmons said. "You could put me anywhere, really."

In high school, he played safety and receiver, catching almost 1,000 yards worth of passes as a senior. At Clemson, Simmons has shown he can catch -- both ballcarriers and the ball -- with four career interceptions.

The last one came against Ohio State's Justin Fields in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal. Fields still finished the season with the best touchdown-to-interception in history (40 passing scores, three picks).

"I've been trying to play receiver all year, but the coaches don't want me to get hurt," Simmons lamented.

Now think of the Great Flyover. Olathe North is in the Kansas suburbs, 20 miles or so from Kansas City. It's the same school that produced Darren Sproles. He was a sleeper, too, before becoming a Kansas State great and a 15-year NFL veteran.

"Isaiah might be the most decorated player to come out of Kansas City in 25 years," Crabtree said. "I love the story."

Finding a diamond in Northeast Kansas

Just how Simmons got out of the Great Flyover is a salute to his talent, Crabtree's eye and Venables' recruiting tenacity. The way the story goes, Clemson needed safeties for its 2016 recruiting class.

"Brent reached out as many coaches do, 'Hey, are there any guys there in Kansas City that are being overlooked? I'm looking for a safety/linebacker,'" Crabtree recalled. "It was kind of like perfect timing."

Within two days, Venables was on a plane to Kansas.

"I was over there about half dressed," said Chris McCartney, Olathe North's coach. "The phone rings. 'This Coach Venables. I'm flying in tomorrow, can I come see Isaiah?'"

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh had already made a home visit. Simmons' name still wasn't out there.

"Harbaugh came in that evening and then left," McCartney said. "Next thing I know, Venables was coming in and there was a spark of interest."

That's the way it works in recruiting. A big-name school gets involved and that visit alone can validate a prospect.

Simmons was what they call a late bloomer. Plus, even in this age when the internet is soaked with recruiting experts, sometimes they all can miss one. All of them. Except Venables.

It shouldn't be a surprise. Venables was born three hours from here in Salina, Kansas. His wife is from Hutchinson. Venables made his bones two hours away from here spending eight years under Bill Snyder at Kansas State.  

"Whoa," Venables said when he first saw Simmons, "That's what they look like when they leave [Clemson]."

Hard to believe, then, they called the prospect "Slimmons" as a 140-pound freshman running track at North. Isaiah's dad, Victor Sr., had moved the family from Omaha, Nebraska, in 2003. Victor started a track club, Olathe Express, that became a hyper-competitive training ground for his sons.

Victor Jr. -- four years older than Isaiah -- played cornerback at Kansas. The brothers were both Junior Olympic track champions.

"One day, his brother and him were arguing over who had the most national medals," Victor Sr. said. "… Isaiah used to be really thin, but you know what? He was always a force to be reckoned with. Little league football, there was this skinny little kid who was so fast, who would score four, five touchdowns a game. A safety on the other side, he would knock those kids out."

The urban legends surrounding Isaiah Simmons grew along with the player himself. There was the time Simmons, a high school senior, sort of flexed during an eighth-grade orientation.

"At the end, they have this assembly," McCartney recalled. "They had a dunking competition, and Isaiah was in it. He jumped over four or five kids and slammed the ball. He jumped from the free throw line. He couldn't play basketball, but he could jump."

Playing against then No. 1-ranked Lawrence Free State, Simmons once picked up a ballcarrier and "lifted him up and planted him in the ground like a shovel," McCartney recalled.

After watching Simmons return a fumble 65 yards for a touchdown in the same game, the opposing coach asked McCartney, "Are you f'n kidding me?! I've never seen a guy with whatever ability he has."

When it came down to scholarship-offer time, Venables asked McCartney to level with him: How tough is this kid, on a scale of 1-10?

"I thought he was he was at least an eight," McCartney said.

"So you think he's pretty physical?" Venables asked.

"I'm a very picky guy," McCartney countered. "A 10 is really [tough] in my eyes."

"What's a 10 to you?" Venables shot back.

"I don't know if we've had a 10," McCartney concluded.

Simmons was defined. He went on to run a 4.31-second 40-yard dash at Clemson before playing a down of football. During his redshirt year in 2017, the two-time state long jump champion at Olathe North finished 13th in event at the ACC championships without really training. 

Even while sitting out that first year, Simmons matured while watching the 2017 CFP Fiesta Bowl semifinal skunking of Ohio State (31-0).

"That was kind of like the opening stage, if you will, for my college career," Simmons said. "Even though I wasn't participating in the game, I felt like I was. If you ask me, I played every play."

Entering the Clemson lineup as a backup safety in 2017, Simmons transitioned to Sam linebacker in 2018. That year, he led the Tigers in tackles. This season, he is second in that category and leads Clemson in tackles for loss (14).

"It wasn't a coincidence I got there to Clemson," Simmons said this week. "Not getting the schools I wanted made me work harder. I was always told, 'You don't want to be the best guy on the field [or] the smartest guy in the room because then you can't get better.'"

A life-altering season

North Carolina played Clemson closer than anyone this year. Simmons had one of his best career-games in the 21-20 Tigers win -- eight unassisted tackles to go along with a career-high tying 2.5 tackles for loss, plus a sack.

"I think he does a good job of disguising what he's going to do sometimes," Tar Heels offensive coordinator Phil Longo said. "You see flat feet and relaxed demeanor, and you figure he's not a high-percentage pressure guy that play. You see staggered feet and shoulders down, you think he's got a better shot at coming. He does a better job, playing it all and bluffing you."

That day, the season could have effectively ended for Clemson.

"If we lost a game, we knew we were done," Simmons said. "The air gets thinner and thinner the further along you get in the season."

Clemson is everywhere these days. When Venables descended on Olathe, coach Dabo Swinney knew exactly where Simmons was from. Years ago, when Swinney was between football jobs, he was a leasing agent for Rich Wingo, a commercial real estate developer in Birmingham, Alabama.

It turns out that, a few miles from Simmons' home, Swinney was the leasing agent in a strip mall that included a Target, a jeweler and half-priced bookstore.

"He leased my small shops for me," Wingo said. "He was good at it. This summer, he was recruiting [another] young man. Sitting in [that same] parking lot, he calls me. He was going through each small shop that's still there that he brought there."

Isaiah Simmons seems to be everywhere, too. Ask his dad. This week of the CFP National Championship, prospective agents won't leave his father alone. Not even when he is at work at nearby Nebraska Furniture Mart.

"If you haven't gone through it at this level, you don't understand," Victor Sr. said. "They call me at work, man. I tell them, 'Fortunately guys, I'm not in a position to have the conversation you want to have.'"

Not until after Monday night. That's when Isaiah Simmons doesn't even have to long jump to the NFL. His path will be short and clear.