Janae Simmonds

Biography

Janae Simmonds serves as Tennessee's Director of Recruiting Operations, a role she was elevated to in 2024 after two successful years on Josh Heupel's staff. Simmonds joined the Volunteers as on-campus recruiting coordinator in February 2022 and has twice been promoted during her tenure. She was named assistant director of recruiting in September 2023. Simmonds plays a vital role in all recruiting operations, including the admissions of all incoming student-athletes. She also assists in the planning and conducting of on-campus official and unofficial visits while overseeing a staff of coordinators, student interns and volunteers in the recruiting department. Simmonds has been a part of the best two-year stretch for Tennessee football in two decades. She was part of a 2022 staff that hauled in a top-10 recruiting class following a memorable season that included 11 victories, a No. 6 final ranking and an Orange Bowl title. The Vols followed that up with a top-15 class and nine wins in 2023, capped by a shutout of Big Ten West champion Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. Simmonds has served two NFL internships, first in the summer of 2022 with the Kansas City Chiefs before spending the summer of 2023 with the New York Giants. She was a scouting intern with both teams. The Lagrangeville, New York native, came to Knoxville after spending the 2021 season as a recruiting and operations intern at Maryland. She assisted in all day-to-day and game day recruiting operations, while supervising stud