OTF Premium Colin Simmons: 'My individual goals are the team goals'

[Jeff Howe]

TAMPA, Fla. — The best sign of Colin Simmons’ growth as a player, a man and a leader are his personal goals for the 2026 season.

After making it known that he was aiming for Kiki DeAyala’s single-season school sack record (22.5 in 1982) heading into 2025, Simmons isn’t concerned with splattering his name all over the Texas record books. Instead, Simmons would rather put a number on the wall signifying how the Longhorns fulfilled their promise in what’s expected to be his last season on the Forty Acres.

“Honestly, my individual goals are the team goals,” Simmons said at SEC Media Days in Tampa on Thursday. “It's the team's success. Winning. Winning a national championship.

"Everything that comes with it.”

Thanks to a furious finish, which saw him racking up 10.5 sacks over the last eight games of the season, including a career-high three in a 16-13 overtime road win over Kentucky on Oct. 18, only Jackson Jeffcoat and Alex Okafor have gotten closer to DeAyala’s seemingly untouchable mark than Simmons did last season. The second-team All-American and first-team All-SEC defender’s 12 sacks tied him with DeAyala (1981), Steve McMichael (1977) and Tony Degrate (1984) for the eighth-best single-season sack total since 1975, which is when Texas began tracking sacks as an official statistic.

While Simmons was noticeably pressing early in the season, the sacks started to come when his focus shifted from piling up numbers to loving the game. The approach also helped Simmons come into his own as a leader with a style that’s positioned him to be everything Will Muschamp needs him to be in the first season of his second stint as the program’s defensive coordinator.

“Being myself, showing my teammates that they can just be themselves,” Simmons said when describing his leadership style. “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, nothing can move you.”

The only person who should be able to move Simmons is Muschamp, who has unleashed top-notch edge rushers like Simmons throughout his career as a defensive coordinator. With 21 sacks through two seasons, Simmons is nine away from joining DeAyala, Degrate and Tim Campbell as the only Longhorns to record at least 30 career sacks, highlighting the Duncanville product’s pass-rushing prowess.

Steve Sarkisian hired Muschamp to ensure the Longhorns play defense with more of “an aggressive, in-your-face, tighter coverage kind of approach to things,” he said Thursday. Simmons stands to benefit the most from the leadership change; according to Pro Football Focus, Simmons’ 74 coverage snaps were tied for the 26th most among FBS edge defenders and the fifth most among edge rushers in the SEC.

Simmons attacking downhill toward the line of scrimmage more often should be a net positive for the Texas defense. The mindset change Muschamp promotes, and the physicality he demands, have Simmons champing at the bit to show what he can do in the new scheme.

“I'm not going to lie, I'm happy to be part of this defense,” Simmons said. “I'm happy to be coached under him.”

Even then, Simmons remains steadfast in maintaining a team-first approach to what could be a historic junior season.

“Representing the Longhorns is like representing the name on your back,” Simmons said. “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’ve got to represent the Longhorns.”

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[Jeff Howe]

@Gerry Hamilton had a good interview with Colin Simmons that should be on the YouTube channel and podcast feed at some point. They dive deeper into Simmons' growth and how his perspective on individual goals has changed to a team-first approach.

[Jeff Howe]

On those sack totals, the only Texas defenders who've had better seasons than Simmons' 12 sacks since 1982 are Alex Okafor (12.5 in 2012) and Jackson Jeffcoat (13 in 2013).

[Texas10s]

  Great attitude from maybe your most talented player on a loaded roster??.  I imagine that tone is consistent in the locker room, if so.  Look out…imo.  Hook em