This was a generational-type season for Martin-Westview freshman quarterback Graham Simpson.
The scary thing is, for opponents of the Chargers, Simpson is only a freshman.
Tuesday at Nashviile’s Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans, Simpson was lauded as a finalist for the Class 3A Mr. Football award. He joined Alcoa’s Eli Graf, Simpson’s counterpart in the 3A state championship, and Covington’s Skylan Smith, Simpson’s opponent in the 3A semifinals.
Ty Simpson, the older brother of Graham, currently a quarterback at Alabama, was Class 2A Mr. Football in 2021, and the son of Tennessee-Martin football coach Jason Simpson.
The Westview quarterback guided the Chargers to a Region 7-3A championship, a 13-1 record and his team was the Class 3A state runner-up. He had a remarkable freshman year, completing 229 of 315 passes for 4,135 yards, 57 touchdowns and only one interception. He completed 75.8 percent of his passes and averaged 17.3 yards per completion. He carried 43 times for 60 yards and two touchdowns.
In the regular-season finale, Simpson threw for a state-record 620 yards and eight touchdowns during a 59-56 thriller victory over Covington. Westview earned the regional championship as a result.
Westview coach Matt McConnell, who is beginning his second tour as Martin-Westview’s coach, coached Ty Simpson for a season and now has had the fortune to have Graham Simpson in his stable. The coach was pleased with the Mr. Football honor.
“With the numbers he put up, I thought he should have won it,” said the coach. “Nothing against the other players, and they are great players, but Graham threw 57 touchdowns and had over 4,000 yards. You don’t see that every day, especially from a freshman.”
McConnell said the kind of statistics Simpson had is unusual, especially since there were many games when Westview had a big lead in the second half and he came out of the game.
“It one of those weird situations where you need to let a freshman get a lot of reps,” said McConnell, “but you don’t want to leave him in a game like that and risk him getting hurt.”
McConnell lauded Simpson’s leadership skills.
“He’s just a freshman, yet before practices, he gets the team together and before games he does the same thing. He talks to them and makes sure they are all doing the right thing,” McConnell said. “You don’t see many freshmen doing that.”
The coach said Simpson thrives off of pressure. He gave and example during the Dyer County game. Simpson air-mailed his first pass, but settled down and had a good game.
“He’s just a great teammate,” said McConnell. “The kids love playing with him.”
Having coached both Ty and Graham, McConnell said they have similarities and differences. Ty, said McConnell, is a quarterback with a middle linebacker’s mentality. If the pass wasn’t open, he looked to run the ball. Graham, on the other hand, looks for open receivers and wants to throw the ball.
“This was a great honor and very well deserved,” Simpson said. “The kids love playing with him.”
McConnell said the Chargers lose three players on offense and five on defense, so Westview stands a good chance to make it back to the state championship next season. Also, there is a possibility that Simpson could win Mr. Football for the next three seasons.
“That could happen,” McConnell said. “I hope he does.”
Graham is the son of Jason and Julie Simpson.