Simpson grew up in the Dorchester-Waylyn neighborhood of North Charleston, South Carolina, where he and his younger brother were raised in a single parent household by his mother, and attended Fort Dorchester High School.

[1] Rated a four star prospect, Simpson committed to play college football at Clemson over offers from Florida, LSU, South Carolina and Alabama.

[2][3] Simpson played in nine games (160 total snaps) as a true freshman on Clemson's 2016 National Championship team, missing multiple weeks due to a foot injury.

[6] Simpson started all 15 games for the Tigers, playing a total of 858 snaps, as the team won the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship was named third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and to the second-team by the Associated Press.

He gained national coverage by a wearing a blonde wig to imitate the team's starting quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, whom most members of the media had expected to be Clemson's player representative.