Texas Football: 2024 SEC move a ‘big factor’ for 5-Star Colin Simmons

A top in-state priority for the 2024 Texas football recruiting class is the elite five-star Duncanville edge rusher Colin Simmons. Texas is in a top group of schools that look to have the lead in the race to land a commitment from Simmons heading into the spring that also includes the Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, and Georgia Bulldogs, among others.

Simmons is one of the top-rated 2024 recruits in the nation, and many recruiting services rank him as the top edge rusher in this class.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns staff are putting the full-court press on Simmons on the trail. Simmons is in constant communication with the likes of special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Jeff Banks and co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Jeff Choate.

He’s even in pretty frequent contact with Sark himself from what we’ve heard coming out of this recruitment.

At this point, I would say that the level of investment that Texas’ staff is putting in on the recruiting trail with Simmons is enough to conclude that he could be the biggest priority on this side of the ball for the Longhorns 2024 class.

Yet, it goes without saying that the level of competition for Texas in this recruitment is going to be high. Some of the top programs in the SEC and Big 12 are right there with Texas in the race to land a commitment from Simmons.

But there could be something that helps Texas in this recruitment in terms of the recent events in conference realignment. It sounds like the early move to leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2024 instead of 2025 by Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners is something that will only help the two schools as each looks to make big moves on the recruiting trail this spring and summer.

Texas football joining the SEC in 2024 has a positive impact on the recruitment of 5-Star EDGE Colin Simmons

A report from CJ Vogel of TFB Texas on Feb. 14 (donor content) says that the early move for Texas to leave for the SEC in 2024 “really made some noise” with Simmons. It sounds like the potential for Simmons to be able to play his entire career in the SEC should be able to move the needle at least a little bit in Texas’ favor.

Simmons clearly wants to face the heightened level of competition in the trenches that you would face in the SEC compared to the Big 12. And given that he already plays against a high level of competition with Duncanville in Texas 6A High School football, his skill set should translate pretty quickly at the collegiate level.

All told, Simmons’ ability to make an immediate impact coming off the edge at almost any program in the entire country means that he probably won’t want to waste a single year not playing against the best competition in the Power Five.

Thus, it’s easy to see how Texas making the move to join the SEC in 2024 helps in this recruitment, in particular. Texas is going to take advantage of every edge it can get in this recruitment, so the impact that the move to the SEC next year has on the recruiting trail with this top defensive prospect is still very notable.

Texas currently holds commitments from three high school recruits in the 2024 class ahead of spring ball. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2024 Texas recruiting class ranks at No. 19 in the nation and in the second spot in the Big 12 behind the Texas Tech Red Raiders.