Texas Football: 5-Star EDGE Colin Simmons can ‘see myself at Austin’

Among the top three or four priorities in-state for the 2024 Texas football recruiting class is the elite five-star Duncanville edge rusher Colin Simmons. The top-ranked edge rusher in the nation for the 2024 class is someone that head coach Steve Sarkisian and Texas are clearly making a top priority for this cycle from everything we’ve heard.

That’s evident in the fact some of the top coaches on Texas’ staff such as Sark himself along with offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood, and special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks are all in pretty consistent communication with the Duncanville edge player.

Texas has plenty of competition, though, coming from out-of-state schools and some programs in Texas. The LSU Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, and Georgia Bulldogs have all hosted Simmons on multiple visits in the last couple of years.

Meanwhile, the TCU Horned Frogs are putting up a big fight among the top in-state schools for Simmons.

At the moment, it looks as if Texas and TCU are the top in-state options for Simmons. He’s visited these two schools a whopping half-dozen times since the start of 2022. Of those half-dozen trips, four were to the Forty Acres to see Sark and the Longhorns.

https://twitter.com/On3Recruits/status/1590359937628397568

Texas football making a big impression on 5-Star EDGE Colin Simmons with the efforts from the staff on the trail

Those efforts from the coaching staff to keep Simmons on campus often in the last 12 or 14 months along with keeping in constant communication have made quite the impression. According to a report from On3’s Chad Simmons on Feb. 6 (paid content), Sark and his staff have made Colin feel like they “really want me”.

In regards to the Texas coaches’ efforts on the recruiting trail with Simmons, it’s clear they’re paying off. He mentioned that “I see why people are committing to Texas” in this On3 article.

Another quote from this article that really shows the impression that Texas has made on Simmons is that he said he can see himself “in Austin”.

That goes to show that Texas has cultivated a great relationship with Simmons and his camp while doing a great job of making him feel at home in Austin.

The next step for Texas will be to get Simmons on campus for the first time in 2023 in the next couple of months. The last time that Simmons made the trip to Austin was for the TCU game on the weekend of Nov. 10.

There is a big visit weekend that Texas is planning in the midst of spring ball, set to take place on a March weekend. That could be one to watch in terms of a potential target date for when Texas could get Simmons back to campus this offseason.

Expect to see the likes of LSU and Georgia continue to remain in the mix among the top schools in the race to land a commitment from Simmons. This recruitment could largely turn into a battle to keep Simmons in Texas as the Longhorns and Horned Frogs continue to make him a top priority in the 2024 class.

Texas currently holds commitments from three recruits in the 2024 class. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2024 Texas recruiting class ranks at No. 18 in the nation and in the second spot in the Big 12 behind the Texas Tech Red Raiders.