The first-year edge rusher is already drawing attention from some of the nation’s most notable pundits ahead of the 2024 college football season.

One of the most prominent voices in college football, Josh Pate, presenter of “Late Kick Live with Josh Pate,” recently gave Texas Longhorns freshman Colin Simmons great marks on an episode of his podcast.

Pate began his show with positive words about the star edge rusher who is about to enter his first year of college. He then talked about the top impact freshmen for 2024.

“If you arrive and find yourself in the two-deep in Texas, Georgia, or any other similar location. Pate remarked, “You are the best of the best. “Colin Simmons appears to meet that description,”

The two-deep refers to the depth chart that head coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski create to denote the starters and highest impact players on the team.

“A lot of these guys would clearly start at most places in the country,” Pate said about Simmons Georgia’s No. 1 safety recruit KJ Bolden.

But just making the initial depth chart is a massive accomplishment for the 6’3, 234-pound edge rusher. Simmons has to battle for snaps with four upperclassmen on the team that has combined for 38.5 sacks in their career, but The team will have to create room on the roster for him if he can enter the game and have an impact as a true freshman.

Simmons is projected to be among the five edge rushers in rotation in our most recent depth chart projections, which were made after spring football. This puts him ahead of players who have played a complete season on the 40 Acres, such as Tausili Akana and Colton Vasek.

With 44.5 career sacks in high school, it’s evident that the collegiate football world is eager to see just how good a true freshman like Simmons can be. As a result, expect to see a lot of SEC quarterbacks hauled down at the expense of an 18-year-old in his first season on the field.

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