I'm not an expert by any means, but it's pretty clear that Cal made other players a priority over Simmons this summer. Some might say he cooled on him. In the past we've seen this happen, and we end up saying "wow coach cal dodged that bullet." Cal doesn't have to take guys with character issues.
I think coaches, from being in the recruiting game, get a sense on the effort it is going to take to land a kid. If they can get the same or near same quality player with the same effort, they may just tell a player "the offer is there if you want to accept" and focus on the player they feel will commit.