Film Room: How Will Muschamp Unleashed Colin Simmon, Texas' Front-Seven on Tennessee

Texas Longhorns edge rusher Colin Simmons set a program record for sacks in a single game on Saturday when he brought Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Faizon Brandon down five-and-a-half times en route to a 20-17 victory in Neyland Stadium. His utter brilliance was just one facet of a dominant performance that Texas' front-seven put on in Knoxville.

The Longhorns pressured Tennessee's 18-year-old passer on 23 of his 49 drop-backs and sacked him 10 times despite only blitzing on 16.3% of snaps. Rasheem Biles, Maraad Watson, Hero Kanu, Zina Umeozulu and Alex January all nabbed a sack in a performance that was as overpowering as it was team-oriented.

The feat is new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp's most impressive yet, and as great as his players' individual performances were, he deserves a share of the credit for how he coached the unit.

Muschamp Maximized His Guys

Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Will Muschamp observes his players before a game against the UTSA Roadrunners at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is one of the most loyal disciples of the in-vogue 'Veer-and-Shoot' offense, a high-powered system that Muschamp dominated against in his time with the Georgia Bulldogs using 'Mint 4 MOD'. He brought that scheme to Texas' first game against a veer-and-shoot attack when they opened the year against the Texas State Bobcats, however, he modified his strategy for Saturday's affair.

For one, instead of using Simmons as the off-ball money linebacker in Mint 4 MOD, which Texas did against the Bobcats, it kept him on the line of scrimmage as the jack linebacker. This forced him to play the third-highest coverage snaps of his career but also kept him near the ball at all times and made Tennessee account for him as a potential pass-rusher on every play.

Muschamp also went away from the mint package in general, favoring more four-down alignments and penny packages. These provide a more natural pass-rush than mint while also better out-gapping Tennessee on outside runs.

Muschamp also got creative lining up and using his front, swapping the alignments of his defensive ends and edge rushers with his defensive tackles and using overload fronts to create exotic stunts that Tennessee struggled to pick up all day. Longhorn linemen also frequently shifted just before Tennessee snapped the ball, further stressing their blocking assignments.

On the back end, Texas lived in two-high safety shells but frequently spun into single-high looks and even mixed in some three-safety plays. Muschamp also frequently called on his safeties to be run-first players, which helped the Longhorns hold a Volunteers rushing attack that was averaging 283.5 yards per game to just 70.

The biggest beneficiaries of the strategic changes were Simmons, defensive end Lance Jackson and defensive tackle Maraad Watson, who combined for six-and-a-half sacks and 24 pressures. Watson and Jackson benefited from increased use in certain alignments, while Simmons was unleashed by a green light from Muschamp to pull up on his rushes, read the quarterback's movement, and trust his closing speed to finish plays.

Colin Simmons, Lance Jackson and Maraad Watson Pass-Rushing Highlights vs Tennessee

Simmons (#1): 5.5 Sacks, 10 Pressures, 1 QBH, 91.3 PRSH Grade
Jackson (#40): 9 Pressures, 4 QBH, 34 PRSH Snaps
Watson (#88): 1 Sack, 5 Pressures, 73.5 PRSH Grade pic.twitter.com/VGZaV6rh3E
— Carter Long (@carter_long818) September 29, 2026

Texas' combination of creative fronts and disguised coverages stuffed the Volunteers' offense into a box, one which is best demonstrated in Brandon's Pro Football Focus passing chart from the game.

Faizon Brandon Passing Chart — Pro Football Focus

Simmons headlined a truly dominant performance from Texas, one that signals that Muschamp is learning how to absolutely maximize his players. If he continues to grow alongside the team, it will be hard to score on the Longhorns all season.

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