USC RECRUIT SIMMONS GETS 4 YEARS IN PRISON

Maurice Simmons, a great high school linebacker who had committed to USC, was sentenced to four years in prison for second-degree robbery and assault with a firearm Wednesday.Simmons also was convicted of a misdemeanor count of permitting a loaded firearm in a vehicle for the incident, which happened early this year in Compton, where Simmons was a star at Dominguez High School.The sentence likely ends the football career of an 18-year-old who once looked like a very promising talent."He’s stunned,” his lawyer, Michael Carney, said. “He’s kind of numb about it right now."Simmons’ older brother, Melvin Simmons, played at USC in 2002 and 2003.