Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons just turned a monster night in Knoxville into a clean sweep of national recognition.
The No. 1/1 Longhorns junior was named National Player of the Week by the Chuck Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Walter Camp Award on Tuesday, giving him the first such weekly honors of his career from all three organizations. Simmons had already landed on the preseason watch lists for each award.
His performance against No. 14/13 Tennessee on Sept. 26 was the kind that bends a game on its own.
Simmons piled up a Texas school-record 5.5 sacks, a total of 55 yards in losses, while also forcing a fumble, adding nine tackles with six solo stops and collecting a pressure in the Longhorns’ 20-17 win. The 5.5 sacks made him the first FBS player in the last 20 seasons to post at least 5.0 sacks in a game against a ranked team.
It also matched the SEC single-game record, first set by Mississippi State’s Greg Favors against Ole Miss in 1996.
The numbers around him were just as loud. Texas finished with 10 sacks, second-most in program history and fourth-most by an FBS team against a top-25 opponent since sacks became an official NCAA stat in 2000.
Simmons had a hand in nearly every critical stretch, from a first-quarter sack on third-and-12 that helped force a three-and-out to back-to-back third-quarter sacks that pushed Tennessee into a punt after the Vols had worked near midfield. He also produced multiple sacks on Tennessee’s first possession of the fourth quarter, including a shared sack with Hero Kanu and another on third-and-16 that came with a strip, even though the ball bounced out of bounds.
Simmons’ night fit a bigger pattern, too. He has recorded at least one sack in eight of his last nine games and at least one in each of his last seven games against a ranked opponent.
Against Tennessee, Texas also held a team that entered the game ranked No. 4 nationally in rushing offense, No. 7 in scoring offense and No. 14 in total offense to 70 rushing yards, 10 points and 221 total yards. One of Tennessee’s two touchdowns came on a punt return, and 80 of its total yards came on a fourth-quarter drive.
The outing pushed Simmons to 14.5 career sacks against Top 25 teams and gave him 28 career sacks and 38 tackles for loss. Those 28 sacks rank seventh on the Texas career list. This season, he sits second in the FBS in sacks at 1.75 per game and third in tackles for loss at 2.13 per game.
The honors also added a few more marks for Texas. Simmons is the first Longhorn to be selected as Chuck Bednarik Player of the Week since Anthony Hill Jr. on Oct. 28, 2025, the first to win Nagurski Trophy Player of the Week since Jaylan Ford in 2022, and the 16th Texas player to earn Walter Camp National Player of the Week recognition.
He is the first Longhorn to do so since Arch Manning was named Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 25, 2025.
Anthony Hill Jr. also received Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 27, 2025, and Texas has now had at least one Walter Camp National Player of the Week in five straight seasons.
In Other News...
Colin Simmons Gave Texas Fans Another Reason To Question The SEC
Colin Simmons gave Texas exactly the kind of breakout afternoon that gets remembered long after the final whistle. The Longhorns edge rusher posted a career-high 5.5 sacks against Tennessee and set a new program single-game sack record, a performance so disruptive that it instantly became one of the biggest individual highlights of the season for Texas.
Even so, the weekly conference honors did not follow in the way many expected, even as Simmons picked up multiple national awards after the game. For Texas fans, it only added another wrinkle to the ongoing debate over how much the SEC values what happened on the field versus everything that surrounded it. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Pass Rush Is Becoming A Serious SEC Problem
Texas has found a pass-rush pairing that is starting to change the conversation around its defense. Colin Simmons and Lance Jackson have been two of the biggest reasons the Longhorns have looked so disruptive early, combining for 29 tackles and 9.5 sacks while giving the front seven a much-needed edge in SEC play. Their pressure has been a steady theme for a defense that is trying to prove it can hold up when the schedule gets heavier.
Simmons, in particular, has already delivered the kind of breakout performance that puts a player on the league-wide radar, and Jackson has helped make sure the offense cannot focus its attention in one spot. For Texas, the bigger picture is obvious: if the pass rush keeps winning on obvious passing downs, the Longhorns can make life a lot harder on the teams standing between them and a playoff run. The next test is whether this early momentum holds when opponents start planning for it every week. [Read more 🡒]
Bijan Robinsons Latest NFL Statement Has Texas Fans Beaming
Bijan Robinson keeps giving Texas fans a reason to check Sundays with a little extra pride. The former Longhorn put together another standout showing against Green Bay, piling up 213 total scrimmage yards and finding the end zone twice, a reminder that his all-around game has translated cleanly to the pro level. He is also off to a strong early-season start, sitting near the top of the league in both rushing and receiving production.
The latest recognition adds to the sense that Robinson is becoming one of the NFLs most reliable matchup problems, especially away from home. His recent run has put him in rare company and given Texas supporters plenty to celebrate, even if the bigger picture around how high he can climb this season is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]