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"I'm the one": A confident Colin Simmons has his eyes on the record books in 2025

Joe Cookby: Joe Cook04/17/25josephcook89
Colin Simmons
Colin Simmons (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas)

Three games into his collegiate career, Texas EDGE Colin Simmons was one of the most confident players in the Longhorn locker room. That confidence hasn’t subsided in the slightest.

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After a breakout performance against UTSA last season, Simmons explained that he was just starting to get comfortable on a college football field. He warned others at that time, saying “I’ve got a lot in me.”

There were ups and downs for Simmons during his freshman season, but the ups were more numerous. Simmons earned Freshman All-American and Freshman All-SEC honors and won the 2024 Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year award during a campaign where he logged 48 tackles with 14.0 for loss along with nine sacks, one interception, three passes defended, and three forced fumbles in 16 games.

Simmons is ready for whatever his second season might bring, but he’ll be doing so wearing No. 1 as opposed to No. 11. And the reason why he’s wearing a new number on his jersey functions as evidence of his continued confidence.

“I’m the one,” Simmons said Wednesday without flinching.

Simmons is certainly justified in his confidence. Along with the accolades from his debut season, he was ranked as Pro Football Focus’ top returning EDGE and On3’s No. 5 player in college football in 2025. He finished the season with a PFF defensive grade of 82.5. His PFF pass-rush grade of 90.0 was No. 20 among all EDGEs and eighth among those in the SEC with at least 100 pass-rush snaps in 2024.

He admitted on Wednesday there’s more room for him to grow. He identified a number of technical aspects of the position as areas where he needed to improve between his freshman and sophomore seasons. But when asked what the biggest adjustment was between high school and college, Simmons gave an answer that was indicative of his confidence in his own ability. It wasn’t the fact that he had to go against some of the best in the Southeastern Conference and Big 10. It wasn’t that he had to battle in practice every day against players like Kelvin Banks and Cameron Williams.

“Schedule, honestly,” Simmons said. “All the drills and stuff like that, I’ve seen them before with all the trainers that I’ve had in my lifetime, all the tough coaching that I’ve had growing up. I was prepared for it. It was just the schedule.”

Few players believe in themselves as much as Simmons already does after a career’s worth of games, let alone 16. For Simmons, it’s a necessary trait in his life as a football player.

“I never lose my confidence playing this sport,” Simmons said. “You’ve got to have confidence playing this sport going into games, going into practice, walking into this facility. You have to have the utmost confidence.”

That confidence has him eyeing a Texas record that has stood for decades. Or maybe a NCAA record.

The Longhorn school record for most sacks in a season belongs to Kiki DeAyala, who notched 22.5 during the 1982 season. Officially, Terrell Suggs holds the FBS record with 24 in his 2002 campaign, an honor he holds instead of Fresno State’s Ron Cox. Cox notched 28 sacks in 1989, but because the NCAA didn’t start recording official defensive statistics until 2000, the honor belongs to Suggs.

Either way, Simmons wants to put his name at the top of the record books.

“I’m trying to break the sack record, I’ll just say that,” Simmons said.

Simmons spoke Wednesday about a connection he built with current Dallas Cowboy and former Penn State star Micah Parsons. Both had bonded over the No. 11, and both play a similar game as players who wreak havoc for opposing offensive lines. Parsons saw something in himself when watching Simmons, possibly due to the shared jersey number, but now that Simmons dons No. 1 he’ll be looking to create a name for himself as “the one.”

“Me and Micah actually had that conversation early on at the Super Bowl,” Simmons said. “He knew I was changing my number. I told him that I want to take my own path in my own lane. He understood it. But you know, he didn’t want me to change it. I had to.”

Simmons and other in his room have access to instruction from new EDGE coach LaAllan Clark. Simmons mentioned that Clark has been pivotal in helping him become a better run defender, and knows it’s something that needs to improve in his game.

But, of course, he’s confident.

“You’re just going to have to watch the film,” Simmons said.

Simmons will be part of a defense that is losing several key contributors in the back end as well as two starting defensive tackles from the 2024 season.

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That said, there’s no shortage of confidence from Simmons in his own abilities as he embarks on the second season of what could be a three-year career in Austin. After all, he’s the one. If he can improve his play from an already strong baseline, the entire college football world will learn that very soon.

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