Brian Simmons met Keith Gaither at a high school All-Star game in North Carolina, as the two linebackers played against each other. Simmons was drafted a few years later in 1998 by the Bengals. In 2020, the Bengals also drafted Gaither’s son, Akeem Davis-Gaither.
When the Bengals drafted Akeem, Keith reached out to his old friend Simmons. Simmons called Akeem and told him about adjusting to the NFL.
“I told him the first thing is to get into the locker room and be observant to those you want to be around and those you don’t want to be around,” said Simmons, via Geoff Hobson.