Oct. 6, 2015
By Jerome Boettcher | Subscribe to Commodore Nation
Heading into this season, Darrius Sims looked at his junior campaign with high anticipation.
He was switched to offense as a wide receiver after splitting time with the defense last year. Plus, he is one of the most electrifying kick returners in the Southeastern Conference, showing a national audience that firsthand last September when he made league history as the first player to return two kicks for touchdowns in one game.
But beginning his third year at Vanderbilt carries huge significance for Sims that goes well beyond the football field. As an undergrad, he has now surpassed the halfway point of college and is on track to graduate in May of 2017 with a degree in sociology and corporate strategy.
Sims would be the first in his family to graduate from college.
“That is a big one for me. It means a lot,” he said. “I want to set my family up and set myself up where I don’t have to rely on football.”
Sure, the 20-year-old wants a career in the NFL. But if professional football doesn’t pan out – or after it ends – he already knows what he wants to do.
He plans to return to his hometown of Memphis to start a non-profit organization and launch a community center. He wants to offer a mentorship program for youth in single-parent households, and provide job-search resources for adults.
“Those type of things are needed in the community,” Sims said. “A place where young boys who don’t have their fathers in their life can come there and have mentors and where they can come and play in basketball camps. Just to keep them off the streets and out of jail. That is what I really plan on doing and just have my mind set on.”
Sims understands how strong mentors and parental figures can shape a child’s life. He believes he wouldn’t be at Vanderbilt if it weren’t for his two sets of parents.
Though his parents are separated, Sims still maintains good relationships with his mother, Phyllis Carter, and father, Ray Sims. He also benefits from the guidance of his godparents Marvin and Trione Cooper. Plus, he is the youngest of five children, and he grew up learning from his two brothers and two sisters.
“I would have made a couple of unfortunate decisions if it wasn’t for them,” he said. “I was a thinker of my own. At the time, I liked to try new things. Try experiences. That wasn’t the right way to do it. You have other resources around you so why not use them? And I had to figure that out the hard way with the decisions made – not brutal (choices) but still effects your life. They showed me a better way to do things. They gave me advice.”
For most of his life, Sims lived with his mother. But around middle school he met the Coopers, both educators who took an interest in Sims. He would go out to dinner with the Coopers and his mom became with friends with them. Both parties realized they wanted what was best for Sims academically.
In order to develop Sims as a student and keep him from falling into the wrong crowd, the Coopers wanted Sims to attend Whitehaven High School in Memphis. The school offered Sims a better academic choice. Plus, the Coopers, who didn’t have children of their own, invited Sims to move in with him during the week.
“It wasn’t a permanent thing. It was a temporary thing,” he said. “My mom didn’t have the resources but she wanted to have the best for me. She knew my godparents were really highly educated. They had a real good bond. They knew the common goal, which was for me to be successful and have a good education as well as play football.”
Sims still saw his mom and dad on the weekends and occasionally dropped in during the afternoons. But school came first, especially in the Cooper household and under the watch of Trione, a Vanderbilt grad.
“One thing I loved about my godparents was they were academic oriented,” he said. “I had to do my homework before I did football. They were really on me about that.”
The 5-foot-9, 188-pound speedster helped Whitehaven to a state championship and was heavily recruited for football. But placing an emphasis on education was extremely important to Sims, ultimately tipping the scales in favor of Vanderbilt.
“I wanted to focus on the educational part,” he said. “I was looking forward to life after football. Vanderbilt obviously had the resources and people here to help me with the 50-year plan.”
Already, Sims has reaped the benefits of his decision, accruing invaluable life experience.
He has volunteered at the Martha O’Bryan Center, mentoring children from low-income families in Nashville. This past summer, he worked for former Commodore football player Alan Young as an unpaid intern at Armor Concepts as part of Vanderbilt’s first summer internship program for student-athletes.
He handled customer service responsibilities for Armor Concepts, which provides door security for homes and businesses. Sims says that experience coupled with working at Vanderbilt’s Calling Center where he made calls to alumni and parents has improved his speaking skills.
“I picked up some resources and traits I didn’t even know I had,” he said. “Part of it was just practicing speaking on the phone, speaking to customers, having conversations with customers. That upped my ability to be able to speak because I’m not really a public speaker. Sometimes I can get really frightened and camera shy. That really built my confidence and took my confidence to a level to where I can feel comfortable talking to people.”
Talking confidently as he looks ahead to the last half of his college life, Sims knows he wouldn’t be in this position without his massive support system.
“I was blessed to have two pairs of parents in my life, who mentored me and groomed me to be the person I am now, with the complements of my brothers and sisters,” he said. “So I had a village of people who raised me.”