On the field level at Neyland Stadium, beat reporters from Austin covering Texas football waited in the opposing team’s press conference room after the Longhorns pulled off a scrappy win against Tennessee Saturday.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian came and went, then senior quarterback Arch Manning, then senior linebacker Justin Cryer and a couple more players. But everyone hoped for and anticipated someone else.
Slight smiles and sighs of relief spread when junior edge Colin Simmons walked into the room.
He sat down and chugged some water. At least for Texas, when players talk to the media, they don’t give opening statements. This time he did, starting by thanking God for all of his accomplishments.
Then he addressed the elephant in the room.
“I also do want to say I apologize for the celebration,” Simmons said. “I was definitely in that mode, feeling myself, but you know it happens. Charge it to the game.”
In the second quarter, Simmons sacked Tennessee’s quarterback, freshman Faizon Brandon. It would’ve brought up fourth-and-long, but instead the Volunteers got a fresh set of downs and moved up 15-yards after Simmons’ celebration, which involved him pretending to unzip his pants and urinate on the field.
It was one of the wackiest celebrations and penalties in years, and made matters worse as Texas had been plagued with penalties throughout the game. Cryer, seeing the writing on the wall, rushed over to him to grab him, but was too late.
Usually, that sort of celebration would dominate the headlines, becoming the story of the game. But Simmons’ elite, game-saving performance did so instead.
Simmons terrorized the Volunteers’ offensive line and both quarterbacks that played, recording five total sacks, tying UT’s program record. Simmons was good last year, but seeing that last season he logged 12 total sacks and is already at seven sacks, four games into this year, this could be the season he becomes great.
The celebration was no doubt unnecessary and foolish, especially as it shifted the momentum in Rocky Top. Sarkisian, his teammates and himself aren’t making any excuses.
“We took him out, we addressed it and put him back in,” Sarkisian said. “I’m not going to give the guy the death penalty over an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty; we got to fix it though, right? That can’t continue as we move forward.”
Simmons got an earful on the sidelines and will probably get more of that on practice Monday morning. Even Cryer pulled him aside to remind him of the importance of composure in between whistles.
“We gotta just keep our head, right,” Cryer said. “I know he’s having fun, he’s excited, but we don’t want to let those plays, like those penalties, dictate how the game’s going. We want the game to be defined by how we play on field or during whistles. Anything after, between, whistles, we can’t let that happen.”
But as Simmons and Hero Kanu, fifth-year defensive lineman, said, it’s all about next-play mentality. The show must go on — especially when Texas was up by just one score. Kanu called Simmons the best player on the defense. The Longhorns needed him to close things out, and Simmons took that to heart, coming back into the game and dominating with crucial back-to-back sacks in the third quarter, while cooling it down on his celebrations.
Football is an emotional sport, and sometimes those emotions take over. Even leaders of the team and NFL prospects like Simmons aren’t immune to that. But the ability to address a mistake, fix it, move on and help secure the win for the team is what matters most. Athletes like Simmons who can do that while playing at the highest level will see immense success.
Those surrounding him can see that. Sarkisian summed it up in just a few, impactful words:
“I’ve never seen anything like (that).”
