Get to know Texas signee Colin Simmons on national signing day
Whether you’re a diehard recruiting fan in need of a refresher or a casual fan in need of only the particulars, this will be the series for you.
[Join Inside Texas today using our National Signing Day sale and choose from two great offers!]
The first national signing day for college football begins December 20 and runs through December 22. This series gives you the chance to familiarize yourself with the next class charged with keeping Texas in a position of national prominence.
To win at a consistently high level means stacking talented class after talented class. The top-five 2024 class does just that following top-five finishes in the 2022 and 2023 classes.
On the first national signing day, Inside Texas will offer profiles of each member of the 2024 signing class
The Player: Colin Simmons, EDGE, Duncanville (Texas)
The Rating: 98.48 (Five-Star Plus+)
The Ranking: Simmons is the No. 11 overall prospect, the No. 2 EDGE, and the No. 4 player in Texas according to the On3 Industry Ranking. On3 ranks Simmons as the No. 13 overall prospect, the No. 3 EDGE, and the No. 2 prospect in Texas.
The Highlights:
The Recruitment: Power programs from across the nation offered Simmons, including those close to home in TCU and SMU and those faraway like Miami and Alabama. Texas did as well, hosting Simmons on important junior day and Spring Game visits ahead of official visits in the spring of 2023. Simmons then made official trips to Texas, Alabama, Miami, and SMU, not electing to take an official visit to well-liked LSU. As the summer wore on and SEC plus proximity became the important factors in the recruitment, the Tigers and the Longhorns emerged as front-runners. Barely two weeks before his August decision, Simmons visited Baton Rouge for one last talk with the Bayou Bengals. That trip was not enough to convince the state’s top EDGE prospect to play his college football outside of the Lone Star State, and Simmons committed to Texas on August 10. He remained solid throughout the fall, enjoying what he saw from the Texas defense on multiple occasions.
The Projection: Everyone knows what to do with Colin Simmons. He’s an elite edge rusher, lightning off the ball and cat quick changing direction with long arms to help him fend off the hapless attempts to knock him off his preferred trajectories.
He’d play Buck for Texas, get on the field early on passing downs, and have the chance to pile up sacks and tackles for loss working off the wide edge in the boundary. You don’t really need a particular scheme or approach with Simmons, although perhaps some would serve him better than others, just position him on an edge and flip the switch to “on.” – Ian Boyd
The Reasoning: “Honestly, family. Family. When I had to think about, it just came down to them. What’s the best position my family can be put in? And Texas is the best position there is.”
The Enrollment: Simmons will enroll early.
[Subscribe to the brand new Inside Texas YouTube channel!]
The Final Word: Simmons’ recruitment was a must-win for Texas, and a full-staff effort that featured Steve Sarkisian helped Texas net one of the best in the nation at a position needing an influx of star-power.
