Colin Simmons Gives Fiery Response In Support of Texas’ Offense

It has been no secret that the Texas Longhorns’ offense has struggled to start the 2025 season.

The Longhorns defense has done a phenomenal job at stepping up and essentially keeping the team in games, along with the special teams. After Texas’ narrow victory against the Kentucky Wildcats, head coach Steve Sarkisian praised the two sides of the ball for their impressive efforts.

“We're trying to be the most complete team that we can be,” Sarkisian said after the Kentucky game. “You always want all three phases to be a well-oiled machine right now. And we're just not quite there yet on offense. But it's truly good to know, like, when you can you can play defense and play good on special teams, you're always going to have a chance. Now we need to get going offensively, and that's our task, and that's our job to get that done."

Colin Simmons Clarifies

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian claps during warmups before the game against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

While Sarkisian recognizes the offense’s struggles, Simmons showed his ability to be a leader and proved exactly why he is a leader both on and off the field.

”I think he meant to say defense, special teams and offense,” Simmons said when asked about Sarkisian’s comments. “We’re a team. We’re a whole team. It ain’t just defense and special teams, it’s defense, special teams and offense. We got the offense’s back, the offense got our back and special teams has both of our backs.”

While Texas’ offense has struggled this year, the defensive players have never shown frustration towards the unit or its players. Texas’ defensive leaders have actually done quite the opposite and have done nothing but encourage Arch Manning and the unit.

Following Texas’ win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Red River Rivalry, star defensive back Michael Taaffe took to social media to praise Manning.

“I think it was just a little pent-up frustrations about people's views on Arch,” Taaffe said. ”I think if you know football at all, you don't have a negative thing to say about Arch Manning. … The way that he fights, the way that he loves his teammates, the way that everything could be about him, and he goes into a press conference with Holly Rowe, a well-respected ESPN reporter, and only talks about his teammates and his running back, that just shows you that if you really know football, you don’t have anything bad to say about Arch Manning.”

The Longhorns now head to Mississippi State Bulldogs team that has been impressive at home.