Ken Simonton III (born June 7, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a running back.
He played college football for the Oregon State Beavers, earning first-team All-American honors in 2000.
His father, Ken Simonton II played in the Boston Red Sox farm system in 1975.
[1] Simonton always wanted to attend USC and was recruited to come to the Trojans by assistant coach Mike Riley.
That same Mike Riley was hired as the head coach of the Oregon State Beavers football program in 1997.
[2] Firmly entrenched as one of the premier tailbacks in the Pac-10, Simonton rushed for 1,559 yards in his junior season, again a school record at the time.
Simonton was chosen to serve as one of OSU's captains during the 2000 season, which concluded with a 41–9 victory over Notre Dame in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, an 11–1 record, a 4th-place ranking in the country.
[2] After a 1st place pre-season ranking by Sports Illustrated and cover photo on the magazine, Simonton's senior season did not quite go as expected.
He was released September 9, 2004 Simonton was again signed by the San Francisco 49ers in November 2004 by former college coach Dennis Erickson.