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Colin Simmons brings defensive end back to prominence at Texas

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook2 hours agojosephcook89

Texas had a great thing going at defensive end in the late 2000s.

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In 2006, Tim Crowder earned second-team All-America honors on his way to become a second-round pick. Then in 2008, Sergio Kindle and Brian Orakpo created one of the most lethal pass-rush tandems in school history. Kindle, listed as an “outside linebacker,” logged 10.0 sacks while Orakpo but up 11.5 and won the Nagurski Award. Kindle repeated as an All-American in 2009, and it looked like the Longhorns would be able to lay claim to the DEU title as well as DBU.

The strong play carried on into the early 2010s. Sam Acho earned All-America honors in 2010. Alex Okafor did the same at defensive end in 2011. Three straight seasons with All-American defensive ends wasn’t meant to be, but three-of-four was when Jackson Jeffcoat logged a fantastic 2013.

Then, the position fell off. Some of that had to do with recruiting misevaluations in the respective late-Mack Brown, Charlie Strong, and Tom Herman eras. In the case of Herman, his program’s first staple defense also hamstrung itself in that it often left an outside-the-tackles defensive end on the sidelines. They even tried to utilize a future All-American defensive end in Joseph Ossai as an inside linebacker.

Ossai was always tenacious in his effort, but similar could not be said of the Texas coaches as far as proper usage until a philosophy shift in 2020 put him on the weakside edge. That move turned him loose and he became a consensus All-American.

Between Jeffcoat and Ossai, there were great EDGE players that wore burnt orange. One that comes to mind is Charles Omenihu, who would have been a perfect fit for current Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski‘s Jack position. Even under Steve Sarkisian and Kwiatkowski, there have been quality DEs. Barryn Sorrell notably became a NFL player.

None rose to the level of All-American, though.

Colin Simmons just ended that dry spell.

Simmons was named a second-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association on Tuesday after he was left off the teams released by the Associated Press and Walter Camp Football Foundation. Though two more NCAA recognized selectors in The Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America have yet to release their honorees, Simmons earning a second-team distinction is a big deal.

Between Jeffcoat and Ossai? Six seasons. Between Ossai and Simmons? Four seasons.

The stretch wasn’t as long, but it still was odd to look at All-American teams and not find a Longhorns defensive end. Especially when, in that same stretch, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and other regional rivals put players not only onto All-America teams at defensive end, but also into the early rounds of the draft.

Simmons helps Texas account for one of those issues. Odds are with a strong 2026 he’ll rectify the other one.

In 2025, Simmons logged 41 tackles with 13.5 TFL, 11.0 sacks, two passes defended, a fumble recovery, and three forced fumbles in 12 games. During his freshman season, it took him 16 games just to get to 9.0 sacks.

He became the first Texas defensive end of the Sarkisian era to be named an All-American, ending a drought that carried on for way too long. If he continues his ascendant career, he might be the first defensive end to earn first-team All-America honors in Sarkisian’s tenure as well.

And maybe with other talented players like Lance Jackson, Zina Umeozulu, Richard Wesley, and others in the pipeline, the mid-2020s can become a pass-rushing heyday for Texas just like the late 2000s.

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