Colin Simmons is the emotional leader of the Texas Longhorns. The junior enters the season as a probable Top 10 2027 NFL Draft pick. But for now, Simmons locked in on this season.
Simmons could be the best overall player in college football this year. The Dallas native had 43 tackles, 15.5 for loss, and a SEC-leading 12 sacks last year. Simmons was a second-team All-American and a first-team All-SEC selection in 2025.
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Simmons has made a lot of headlines. The defensive end loves to take not-so-thinly veiled shot at one of the Longhorns opponents.
Colin Simmons is so good he used to “ruin practice.” He’d sack the quarterback and the play would have to be re-run so others could learn their jobs. Now, a much more mature junior, the defensive lineman is helping keep practice in tact.
“I showed it in a team meeting the other day. He came free on a rush. I don’t know if he came within four yards of the quarterback. He just kept rushing by, so that the other 21 guys that were out there … the quarterback can still throw it, the DBs can still cover. He didn’t feel like he had to go get near the quarterback. He’s really practicing like a pro right now. – Texas Longhorns Coach Steve Sarkisian
Here is everything Colin Simmons said during his press conference at SEC Media Days:
Q. Obviously team goals are at the top of your list. But what individual goals do you feel you have to meet so those team goals are successful?
Colin Simmons: Honestly, my individual goals are the team goals. It’s the team’s success, winning, winning a national championship, making the playoffs, everything that comes with it.
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Q. Would you give us a scouting report on Keelon Russell?
Colin Simmons: That’s my dog. Keelon, scouting report. Tall as hell. Great quarterback. Knows how to read defenses. Got good feet. Got an arm on him. Smart. Intelligent. Great person. Great person to connect with. He probably has a great connection with his teammates and his wide receivers. Just keep the pressure on him. Keep the pressure on him.
Q. Texas’ defense was ranked sixth in the SEC last year. How can you personally help keep this competitiveness?
Colin Simmons: Truthfully, it’s not just me. It’s got to be the whole team. And I feel like Coach Muschamp is a great asset to this defense. I know that he’ll help us in the long run.
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Q. Sark was in here a little bit ago. He was talking about bringing in Coach Muschamp, he’s talked about aggressiveness, an attacking style of defense. After what you went through the whole spring and what you’ve done this summer, for you specifically, do you feel like Coach Muschamp with the scheme and the mindset that he’s brought to the table that there’s another level of your game you can get to that maybe we haven’t seen yet or maybe that you haven’t thought you could get to?
Colin Simmons: Yes, sir. Muschamp definitely brought in all of our mindset when it comes to defense, when it comes to the play style that we play, the aggressiveness, how he carries us, how he came about the game of football.
I’m not going to lie, I’m happy to be part of this defense. And I’m happy to be coached under him.
Q. There’s a lot of talk about Coach Muschamp and developing relationships off the field with his players, and that’s why he’s able to ask so much of you guys on the field. Can you speak a little bit about the early relationship that you built with Coach Muschamp?
Colin Simmons: I came to his office probably first, second week, sat there, we talked, chopped it up. Obviously I asked him, is there anything more that I can do to better myself or better the defense. And he’s just telling me just to be myself, be myself, be you go out there, have fun, don’t press yourself. And I just feel like Muschamp is a player’s coach.
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Q. Can you speak a little bit to the rivalry with Texas A&M and if you have any personal relationship with any Aggie players?
Colin Simmons: It’s a good rivalry. It’s very big for our culture and our fans. Texas A&M have a great team every year. Every year I played them they’ve had a great team. So it’s a huge rivalry.
Q. You see Trevor here rocking his “Every 15 Minutes” pin, supporting heart health. What does it mean just to see your teammate advocating for something that he cares about and experienced himself with his own open heart surgery?
Colin Simmons: Honestly, it means a lot. Because Trevor just told me his story not too long ago. It kind of opened my eyes up because I really didn’t know that. I did not know that.
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And so when he told us in Culture Wednesdays, it made me — it kind of made me look at things even differently, you know what I mean? Another aspect.
Q. Talk about your leadership with your own foundation and the leadership on the field and off the field. Sam was just talking about and Coach just talked about that. We saw you at the Citrus Bowl really rallying the team on the sidelines. Everybody knows you’re talented coming in. Where is your leadership grown on that side of the ball and within the entire locker room?
Colin Simmons: Just being myself, being myself, showing my teammates that they can just be themselves. They don’t have to change. They don’t have to impress nobody. People are going to have opinions regardless of what it is, good or bad. But at the end of the day, as long as you stay true to yourself, can’t nothing move you.
Q. Out of you and Trevor and Arch, who do you think has the best outfit today at media days?
Colin Simmons: I’m not going to lie. I done had a plethora of compliments on my fit. So I’m gonna take that award home with me. But me and Trevor showed up in gray. We’re obviously Arch’s bodyguards.
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Q. Let’s fast-forward, September, Austin. It’s hot. You’re at Memorial Stadium. Bevo is ready to run on the field. Everybody’s yelling “hook ’em, Horns.” You’re in the tunnel. You still get goosebumps?
Colin Simmons: In DKR? No. It’s home. It’s home. Our fans are welcoming. They love us. There ain’t no reason to get nervous in DKR.
Q. (Off mic)
Colin Simmons: There’s no reason because if we make a mistake, move on to the next play. Our fans are still going to love us, until they don’t (laughs). But they’re still gonna love us. And I just feel like we’ve got a fan base, great alumni.
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Q. I know you’ve signed some trading cards for Panini and Topps over the last year. I think you did an autograph show this summer, too. What’s it been like for you to get connected to kind of the hobby-collecting, memorabilia world? And do you know the highest sales price for one of your cards?
Colin Simmons: I don’t know the highest sales price for one of my cards but I do know how them cards get.
When I went to card signing in, I think it was the Dallas Show Card, Dallas Showcase, something like that, it was packed out. The gym was packed out. The whole hotel building was packed out from the inside and the outside. I didn’t know it would get that crazy, but that day I learned.
Q. 700.
Colin Simmons: 700? That’s some money.
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Q. Being from Texas, how does it feel to represent the Longhorns at media day, especially as you grow as an emerging leader?
Colin Simmons: Representing the Longhorns is like representing the name on your back. You’ve got to represent it with pride because at the end of the day that’s your family, and you’re representing your family. Just like I represent my mom, I gotta represent the Longhorns.
Q. I know you were part of the NCAA video game shoot. What was that like for you? Have you played with your player, I guess, and do you think it’s up to the standard that you would like to be on the game?
Colin Simmons: Huge shout-out to EA Sports for allowing me to be on the cover of the game, allowing me to be a part of that. It was a very fun experience, a great experience. I played Cam Coleman my first game on the game. He caught a pick-6 with my player and ran it back for a touchdown. I didn’t know my dude was that fast. He got a 90-plus speed on there. I didn’t know he was that quick and that fast.
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He’s sitting there dropping my player in coverage and I’m like, whatcha doin’? Whole time I threw him a pick and he ran it back. That was a fun moment.
My player’s OD code on that game. So I’m very blessed and grateful.
Q. The schedule is difficult this year. There’s a lot of fun competition on it. Ohio State, obviously, they’ve got Texas twice since you’ve been around. Oklahoma‘s Oklahoma. That game’s very special. I know that you see that A&M rivalry. You have trips to Neyland Stadium in Tennessee. You go to Death Valley. Is there one particular game that kind of just makes you feel a little different when you’re looking at that schedule?
Colin Simmons: Obviously in my recruiting, I love LSU and Death Valley. That’s one school that I did want to go to. But truthfully, every game we come with the same mindset, the same mentality: We ain’t taking no game lightly, no matter if it’s Ohio State or Texas State, or no matter if it’s LSU or whoever we play. So I feel like every game we’re going in with the same preparation, the same mindset.
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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Everything Texas Longhorns DE Colin Simmons said at SEC Media Days
