Colin Simmons
Before he could legally buy a beer, Colin Simmons led the entire SEC in sacks. Texas's quarterback gets the headlines; its sophomore edge rusher might be the best player on the roster.
Before he could legally buy a beer, Colin Simmons led the entire SEC in sacks. Texas's quarterback gets the headlines; its sophomore edge rusher might be the best player on the roster.
Simmons arrived as the nation's top edge recruit and hit immediately: Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year in 2024 with nine sacks, then a sophomore leap that led the SEC outright — 12 sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss, and a sack in each of his last five regular-season games. He's a consensus All-American and, by the way, still a teenager.
On a Texas team built around Arch Manning's Heisman push, Simmons is the quiet half of the title case — the disruptor who makes a championship defense go, maturing now into a vocal leader as well as a sack artist.
The forward stakes are simple and large: a third dominant season cements him as the best edge rusher in college football and a likely top draft pick, and gives Texas the pass rush a national title usually requires. The only question is whether the league has figured out how to block him — because through two years, it hasn't.
How he plays
Simmons wins with the first step. He's a speed-to-power edge whose get-off forces tackles to open their hips early — and once they do, he's bending the corner or converting the rush back into their chest. The production isn't a hot streak: a sack in each of his last five regular-season games, three in one night against Kentucky, and an SEC-leading 12 for the year as a sophomore. What he's added is the part that scares coordinators most — he's pairing the burst with a plan, stringing pass-rush moves instead of running the same arc. The one thing left to round out is the run-game grind on early downs. But as a pure pass rusher, two years in, the SEC still hasn't found an answer — and that's the rare kind of problem a national-title defense is built on.
The story
Simmons arrived as the nation's top edge recruit and hit immediately: Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year in 2024 with nine sacks, then a sophomore leap that led the SEC outright -- 12 sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss, and a sack in each of his last five regular-season games. He's a consensus All-American and, by the way, still a teenager.
On a Texas team built around Arch Manning's Heisman push, Simmons is the quiet half of the title case -- the disruptor who makes a championship defense go, maturing now into a vocal leader as well as a sack artist.
The forward stakes are simple and large: a third dominant season cements him as the best edge rusher in college football and a likely top draft pick, and gives Texas the pass rush a national title usually requires. The only question is whether the league has figured out how to block him -- because through two years, it hasn't.
Career Arc
2025 snapshot
Season context · Team result + system
Splits & context
Supporting Cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Steve Sarkisian
Awards
Player Standing · 17 rungs
Tier 1 · 2-deepR04 · Rotational
Rotational. Tackle volume for the position in rotation-piece range.
Career stats
Signature game
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 14 · 2025
W 27–17
vs Texas A&M
3 TOT · 2 SOLO · 1 SACKS
How he plays
Play style
Simmons wins with the first step. He's a speed-to-power edge whose get-off forces tackles to open their hips early -- and once they do, he's bending the corner or converting the rush back into their chest. The production isn't a hot streak: a sack in each of his last five regular-season games, three in one night against Kentucky, and an SEC-leading 12 for the year as a sophomore. What he's added is the part that scares coordinators most -- he's pairing the burst with a plan, stringing pass-rush moves instead of running the same arc. The one thing left to round out is the run-game grind on early downs. But as a pure pass rusher, two years in, the SEC still hasn't found an answer -- and that's the rare kind of problem a national-title defense is built on.
Our classifier reads him the same way: fills the run lane and blitzes off the edge.
2026 Outlook
Texas
2026 Depth chart
Returning starter
Defensive end · Texas · editorial
Returning around him
- 6 Texas players drafted to NFL
- Transfer portal: -6 net (22 in / 28 out)
2026 Award watch
- Bednarik
- Nagurski
- Walter Camp
Texas · Last season: 10-3 (AP #14) · Talent rank #4 · 2026 recruiting class #7
Perception vs tape
Simmons arrived as the nation's top edge recruit and hit immediately: Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year in 2024 with nine sacks, then a sophomore leap that led the SEC outright -- 12 sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss, and a sack in each of his last five regular-season games. He's a consensus All-American and, by the way, still a teenager.
Read the story →DNA match
Player DNA
Thumper
Downhill striker who fills the run lane and blitzes off the edge.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Romello Height’s 2025 season.
Matches Romello on
Differs from Romello on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Brenton Cox's sophomore season at Florida (2021).
Differs from Brenton on
Background
A third-year EDGE ... has played in 29 career games with 13 starts ... 2026 Phil Steele preseason First-Team All-America selection ... 2026 Phil Steele preseason First-Team SEC selection ... named a 2025 Second-Team All-American by The Sporting News, AFCA and Walter Camp Football Foundation ... n...