Kirk Herbstreit picks Texas to win the SEC, lauds Colin Simmons’ disruptive play

A lot of college football analysts and experts have been filling out their 2025 CFP brackets recently, and Kirk Herbstreit just released his as well. The College GameDay personality and widely known play-by-play analyst picked Texas to win the SEC this season, and to lock down a top 4 seed heading into the postseason.

Most analysts have routinely picked Texas or Georgia to win the SEC, and it's not hard to see why. Both teams are absolutely loaded at almost every position, with an excellent, mostly tenured coaching staff in place.

Aside from just making the selections, he also discussed how much of an impact player that Colin Simmons is for Texas on the defensive line.

"Whether he’s wearing No. 11 or 1, Ohio State is going to be ID’ing him. They’re going to make sure they know exactly where he is because he can get after the quarterback… I really thought he did a great job of living up to the hype as a true freshman. I can’t imagine what he’s going to look like after an entire offseason to work on his technique… he’s going to have a big year."

Herbstreit also selected Simmons as his “Best Game Wrecker” pick during the preseason Herbie Awards, which he gives to the player who he thinks is the most disruptive defensive lineman in college football.

Simmons was one of the best edge rushers in all of college football last season as a true freshman, and he'll undoubtedly be even better in 2025. There's nowhere to go but up for Simmons, and Herbstreit definitely recognizes that heading into possibly one of the biggest Week 1 games of the century on August 30th.