Texas junior EDGE Colin Simmons has added another national honor to his résumé, landing a spot on the 2026 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and moving into semifinalist status for the Allstate Wuerffel Trophy.
The award, which recognizes 22 college football players and one head coach for service, academic achievement and athletic excellence, is the first Good Works Team selection of Simmons’ career. A total of 162 individuals were nominated in July.
That selection also puts Simmons in the mix for the Wuerffel Trophy, given each year by the Wuerffel Foundation to the FBS player who best blends service, leadership and production on and off the field. Texas has already produced two winners of that award: Michael Taaffe in 2025 and Sam Acho in 2010.
Simmons’ off-field work has centered on Clay’s Color Crew, the nonprofit he and his mother, Monica McCarley, launched in 2024 to support the autism community. Inspired by his younger brother, Clayton, Simmons helped build the organization around bringing autism resources and facilities to underserved and lower-economic areas in South Dallas and beyond. He has also run youth football camps over the past two years.
On the field, the Dallas native came into the season carrying plenty of preseason buzz. He was on watch lists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, Lombardi Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy, earned Walter Camp preseason First-Team All-America recognition and was named a preseason First-Team All-SEC pick by the league’s media and coaches.
Through Texas’ first two games this year, Simmons has started both. In the opener against Texas State on Sept. 5, he logged one tackle, 0.5 tackle for loss of two yards, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery.
A week later in the Longhorns’ 24-23 win over No. 1/1 Ohio State on Sept. 12, he added 2.0 tackles for loss totaling nine yards, including a sack for an eight-yard loss.
Simmons has been especially productive when the competition gets elite. He has 9.5 sacks in 10 career games against AP Top 10 opponents.
His 2025 season was the kind that turned him into a national name. Simmons started all 13 games, made the Coaches’ All-SEC First Team and led Texas with 15.5 tackles for loss, 12.0 sacks, 15 pressures, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Those 12.0 sacks led the SEC and ranked fifth in the FBS.
He also picked up four SEC weekly honors a year ago. That run included recognition after the Nov. 22 win over Arkansas, when he posted five tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a career-high four pressures and a forced fumble that was returned for a 52-yard touchdown by a teammate.
He earned another honor after the Nov. 1 win over No. 9/11 Vanderbilt, when he produced a strip-sack and recovered the ball on Vanderbilt’s first possession, finishing with five tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries.
His second straight weekly nod came after the Oct. 18 road win at Kentucky, where he had a career-high three sacks and a forced fumble. His first came after the Oct. 11 win over No.
6/6 Oklahoma, when he notched 2.5 sacks among five tackles.
Simmons was also named freshman All-America after winning the 2024 Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Year Award in his first season on the Forty.
Texas returns to action at 7 p.m. CT Saturday, Sept. 19, against UTSA at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. The game will stream on SEC Network+ with Clay Matvick, Rocky Boiman and Austyn Iven on the call.
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