DALLAS (FWAA) – Colin Simmons set a Texas single-game record with 5.5 sacks Saturday in the Longhorns’ 20-17 win at Tennessee. For his historic mark that ties for the third-best total in FBS history since sacks became an official NCAA stat in the 2000 season, the junior edge rusher was selected as the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week for the weekend of Sept. 26 by the Football Writers Association of America.
Each week during the regular season, the FWAA has selected a Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week since 2001. The FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will announce finalists for the 2026 Bronko Nagurski Trophy on Nov. 19. The national defensive player of the year will be chosen from those finalists who are part of the 2026 FWAA All-America Team and presented with the trophy at the Bronko Nagurski Awards Banquet on Dec. 7 at the Charlotte Convention Center, and the winner will also be announced on The Home Depot College Football Awards live on ESPN on Dec. 11.
Simmons led the Texas defensive front throughout the game. His school-record 5.5 sacks were more than half of Texas’ 10.5 total sacks in a dominant performance and boosted him to now lead the FBS in sacks with 7.5 on the season. Simmons was the SEC sack leader in 2025 with 12.0. He had 9.0 total tackles against Tennessee, six of them solo, also forcing a fumble and had one quarterback hurry. He is the first FBS player to have 5.5 sacks against a ranked opponent since 2006, and the backfield stops produced 55 yards of losses for Tennessee.
Texas’ 10.5 sacks were the program’s second-best all-time mark (the school record is 15 from 1981).
A preseason All-SEC pick on the defensive front, Simmons has produced at least one sack in eight of his last nine games stretching back to the 2025 season. He now has 15.5 career sacks against top-25 teams, with at least one in each of his last seven contests against ranked opponents.
Simmons, a 6-foot-3, 246-pound Communications and Leadership major from Duncanville, Texas, made his mark on Tennessee’s side of the line of scrimmage in what was already an impressive defensive performance by the Longhorns. The sacks (for 73 yards lost) were a hefty part of Texas limiting Tennessee to its fewest yards of total offense (221) since its 2020 bowl game thanks to a commanding start, holding it to just 88 yards in the first half. The play-by-play log lists that Simmons and other Longhorns pressured Tennessee quarterbacks on 21 of their 50 drops, resulting in only 2-of-8 passing completions for seven yards when under pressure.
The third-year edge rusher has played in 33 career games at Texas with 17 starts. Simmons was the SEC’s Defensive Lineman or Co-Defensive Lineman of the Week four times in 2025. He’s the first Texas player to post 4.0 or more sacks in a game since 2012 when Alex Okafor had 4.5 in the Alamo Bowl.
Players may be added or removed from the Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list during the season. If a player isn’t already on the preseason watch list, each week’s honored player is added at that time. Simmons was a member of the preseason list.
Simmons is Texas’ sixth player to be honored as the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week since its origin in 2001 and the first since linebacker Jaylen Ford was 2022’s final regular-season honoree the weekend of Nov. 5, 2022. The Longhorns have two previous Bronko Nagurski Trophy winners, defensive end Brian Orakpo in 2008 and linebacker Derrick Johnson in 2004. Defensive back Jahdae Barron was a finalist in 2024 and defensive tackle Malcom Brown was a finalist in 2014.
The FWAA All-America Committee, after voting input from the association’s full membership, selects a 26-man All-America Team and eventually the Bronko Nagurski Trophy finalists. The trophy winner will be chosen from the four finalists named in November. Committee members, by individual ballot, select the winner they regard as the best defensive player in college football.
The FWAA has chosen a National Defensive Player of the Year since 1993. In 1995, the FWAA named the award in honor of the legendary two-way player from the University of Minnesota. Nagurski dominated college football, then became a star for professional football’s Chicago Bears in the 1930s. Bronislaw “Bronko” Nagurski is a charter member of both the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame.
The Bronko Nagurski Trophy is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. The NCFAA’s 25 awards have honored nearly 1,000 recipients since 1935. Visit NCFAA.org for more information or follow on X at @NCFAA.
The Charlotte Touchdown Club is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1990 for the purpose of promoting high school, collegiate, and professional football in the Charlotte, North Carolina region. Since its inception, the club has grown as well as diversified boasting a sponsor team of more than (80) companies. The Club’s activities and services focus community attention on the outstanding Citizenship, Scholarship, Sportsmanship, and Leadership of area athletes and coaches. Through individual and corporate support, more than $3,000,000 has been raised and donated to benefit the Touchdown Club’s scholarship efforts.
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Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,200 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.
Kentucky (2-1, 1-1 SEC) broke open a 7-7 halftime game by controlling every phase of the third quarter. The Wildcats scored touchdowns on all three of their possessions, outgained Texas A&M 196-20, collected 10 first downs while allowing none and possessed the football for 11:18.
