The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 1/1 Football’s Simmons sweeps major National Player of the Week honors
09.29.2026 | Football
The junior EDGE set the Texas single-game program record with 5.5 sacks at No. 14/13 Tennessee.
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 1/1 Texas Football junior EDGE Colin Simmons swept the major National Player of the Week honors, earning recognition from the Chuck Bednarik Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Walter Camp Award, the three organizations announced Tuesday.
It's the first time in Simmons' career he has earned national weekly honors from each of the three awards. Simmons was placed on the preseason watch lists for all three awards.
Simmons set the Texas school record for sacks in a game with 5.5 for a massive 55 combined yards lost, while also forcing a fumble and recording nine tackles (six solo) and a pressure in leading the Longhorns to a 20-17 victory at No. 14/13 Tennessee on Sept. 26. With the 5.5 sacks, Simmons became the first FBS player in the last 20 seasons to have 5.0 or more sacks in a game against a ranked team. Simmons' 5.5 sacks tied the SEC single-game record, which was set by Mississippi State's Greg Favors against Ole Miss in 1996. He has also posted at least one sack in eight of his last nine games. It was just the sixth time since 1975 a Texas player has had 4.0-plus sacks, with the last being 4.5 by Alex Okafor against Oregon State in the 2012 Alamo Bowl. With the performance, Simmons now stands second in the FBS in sacks (1.75 pg) this season and third in tackles for loss (2.13 pg). In all, Simmons and the defense limited a Tennessee offense that had entered the game with the nation's No. 4 rushing offense (298.7 ypg), No. 7 scoring offense (47.7 ppg) and No. 14 total offense (510.3 ypg) to just 70 rushing yards for 1.7 yards per carry, 10 points (one of Tennessee's two touchdowns came on a punt return) and 221 total yards with 80 of those coming on a fourth-quarter drive. The Longhorns totaled 10 sacks on the day, 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' first sack of the game was for a loss of seven yards and came in the first quarter on a third-and-12 at the Tennessee 40-yard line to force a three-and-out. Although his next tackle wasn't a sack, it also came on third down for a three-and-out on the first possession of the second quarter. Later in the second, Simmons secured a sack for a loss of 16 yards on another third down, although the drive continued following a penalty after the play. However, later during that drive, Simmons forced an incomplete pass with a pressure on second down of a series that resulted in a turnover on downs. In the third quarter, with Texas having just retaken a 13-10 lead, Tennessee pushed the ball toward midfield at their own 45, but Simmons came away with back-to-back sacks for a combined loss of 21 yards to force a punt. For his final sacks, he once again generated multiple sacks during the same series, which was the second on Tennessee's first possession of the fourth quarter. The first sack on first down that he shared with Hero Kanu for a six-yard loss, and then he came through again on third-and-16. He also stripped the ball on that play, and although it ended up bouncing out of bounds, it still forced a punt. Simmons even had an additional half-sack on the field that was negated by a facemask penalty on another player during Tennessee's final possession. Simmons now has 14.5 career sacks against Top 25 teams, with at least one in each of his last seven games against a ranked opponent. In all, he has racked up 28 sacks (184 yards) and 38 tackles for loss (204 yards) in his career with the 28 sacks ranking seventh all-time on the program's career list.
The Dallas, Texas, native is the first Longhorn to be selected as Chuck Bednarik Player of the Week since former UT linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. was honored by the award on Oct. 28, 2025. Simmons is the first Longhorn to be named the Nagurski Trophy Player of the Week since former linebacker Jaylan Ford in 2022. Additionally, Simmons becomes the 16th Longhorn to receive National Player of the Week honors from Walter Camp. Simmons is the first since QB Arch Manning was selected as the National Offensive Player of the Week by Walter Camp on Nov. 25, 2025. Former UT linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. also earned National Defensive Player of the Week from Walter Camp on Oct. 27, 2025. It marks the fifth-straight season Texas has had at least one player take home Walter Camp National Player of the Week distinction.
Following a bye week, Simmons and the Longhorns return to action against Oklahoma in the Allstate Red River Rivalry at 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday, Oct. 10, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
