Colin Simmons’ five-sack night against Tennessee turned heads for obvious reasons. The Texas edge rusher tied the program’s single-game record in the Longhorns’ 20-17 win at Neyland Stadium, and the stat line was loud enough to dominate the conversation.
But the bigger picture says this was not some random eruption. Through Texas’ first four games, Simmons has already built a case as one of the most disruptive pass rushers in the country.
He went into the Tennessee game with two sacks from Texas’ first three outings, one against Ohio State and one against UTSA. Then he added 5.5 sacks against the Volunteers, pushing his season total to 7.5 through four games.
The pressure numbers back up the production. Pro Football Focus had Simmons with eight pressures on 53 pass-rush snaps over Texas’ first three games.
Against Tennessee, he delivered 10 pressures on 36 pass-rush snaps. That lifted his pressure rate from 15.1% in the opening three weeks to 27.8% against the Volunteers.
That jump explains how overwhelming he was in Knoxville, but it also shows the Tennessee game was built on work Simmons had already been doing. The sacks were the headline. The disruption was already there.
His track record makes that clear, too. Simmons posted 46 pressures as a freshman in 2024, then raised that number to 59 in 2025. Through four games this season, he has already added 18 more pressures.
So while the Tennessee outing was a career high, it did not create a new version of Simmons.
That matters for Texas. The Longhorns now know they have a pass rusher who can create consistent heat, and they also saw what happens when that pressure turns into sacks at a wild rate.
The next test is whether opponents start changing how they handle him. Chips, double teams and faster throws are the obvious answers teams will use to try to slow him down.
Even so, Simmons’ first four games have given Texas plenty of reason to believe the Tennessee performance was not a one-off. His career production already pointed in this direction, and his early-season numbers suggest the surge is still going.
The five-sack game got the attention. The pressure behind it is what makes this start so impressive for the Longhorns.
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