How do you measure greatness?

In the sports world, we tend to do it with statistics. Raw numbers often rule the day — whether they be the fewest strokes in a round of golf or the most home runs slugged in baseball, it’s numbers, numbers, numbers.

Statistics can be an unfair tool for truly assessing greatness, of course, as the shrewd debater can twist said numbers to suit whatever narrative fits. Not to mention that there also is something to be said for character and values and teamwork.

So how do you measure greatness? You start with Naples High School senior Shawn Simeon.

Statistically, Simeon is uppercase Great. In fact, he not only is the best high school running back you’ve ever seen, but he can also now be considered the best running back I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen more than a few.

How can I make that claim? Well, how about this: No player has ever rushed for more than 2,000 yards in two consecutive seasons in Southwest Florida. Not future Pro Football Hall of Famer Edgerrin James at Immokalee. Not all-world running back Noel Devine at North Fort Myers. Not future NFL stalwart Earnest Graham at Mariner. Not any of the bold-faced names that came before Simeon at Naples — players like Duane Coleman or Manny Morgan or Kendrick Raphael or Chez Mellusi.

But Simeon backed up a stellar 2023 junior campaign that totaled 2,040 rushing yards on 188 carries with a monster senior season in 2024: 2,071 yards on 252 carries.

Simeon’s 2023 production was fueled by the greatest single-game effort these eyes have ever witnessed: 30 carries in the playoffs against Port Charlotte for a school-record 387 yards and state-record seven touchdowns.

And Simeon’s senior campaign saw two more 300-yard games, as he gashed Fort Myers for 322 on 22 carries on Oct. 4, and then sliced Lely for 303 on 30 carries the next time out on Oct. 18. Simeon went into his final high school game Nov. 6 needing just 54 yards to reach the 2,000-yard summit again, and he earned it by delivering 30 bruising carries for a game-high 123 yards in an 18-7 state semifinal loss to Orlando’s Jones. Simeon’s final game in a Naples uniform might have ended with a loss, but he was all smiles after the game, knowing that he delivered for his team all season and did so for most of it with pain coursing through his body. Simeon developed turf toe — a ligament sprain in his left big toe joint that happens when the toe is forced past its normal range of motion — against Immokalee on Sept. 6. Simeon worked weekly through that significant discomfort, only to break a bone in his right foot during Naples’ second-round playoff game against St. Petersburg High on Nov. 22. Both times doctors told him he couldn’t aggravate either injury more, so he simply was held back in practice and saved it for Friday nights.

Piling up stats while playing through pain is no insignificant combination, but that alone doesn’t measure greatness in my book. However, when you add Simeon’s remarkable character, a quiet blend of confidence and genuine grace, into the mix, now we are talking about someone to remember.

Naples High coach Rick Martin tells two stories that speak to Simeon’s character. The Golden Eagles had only a couple hours earlier lost the 2023 region final in Hollywood fashion — Dunbar returned a kickoff for a touchdown as the clock hit triple-zeroes — when Martin’s phone rang around 12:30 a.m. Simeon was on the other end, inquiring how his coach was doing after the heartbreaking loss.

What high school junior does that?

Simeon also was the happy guest of Immokalee United flag football player Eduardo Pablo Campos at the National Football Foundation Collier County Chapter’s annual awards dinner in March, because Simeon had struck up a friendship with the young man and because Campos wanted Simeon there as his invited guest.

What upcoming high school senior does that?

Simeon is off to the University of Toledo next fall, somehow only a three-star recruit who likely will dominate for the Rockets in the Mid-American Conference.

Maybe someday another superstar running back will come along and match Simeon’s consecutive 2,000-yard rushing seasons, and maybe another running back will pop for more than seven touchdowns in a single playoff game.

Shawn Simeon won’t be remembered just for the on-field greatness he provided the Naples Golden Eagles, though. No, the true measure of greatness — for Simeon and anyone else — means a lot more than that.

Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson airs weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on Southwest Florida’s Fox Sports Radio (105.9 FM in Collier County), and streaming on Fox-SportsFM.com.