Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545675
A U G U S T 2 0 2 6 7 5 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / D E F E N S I V E B A C K S / / / / / / / P enn State cornerback Audavion Collins enjoyed a pretty good season as a redshirt junior last year. "Amazing" is the word he uses to describe it, and if that sounds like hy- perbole, bear in mind that he's had to be his own biggest booster for much of his career. The numbers mostly bear out Collins' positive self-assessment. He started all 13 games in 2025, one of only three Nittany Lion defensive players to do so, finishing fifth on the team with 47 tackles while tying for second with 3 pass breakups. Dive into the analytics at Pro Football Focus, and it quickly becomes apparent that he had a better season than his more heavily hyped fellow cornerback, A.J. Harris. Collins played more snaps than Harris (538 to 493), earned a higher ove ra l l d e fe n s ive grade (68.3 to 60.7) and was more re- liable as a cover- age corner, with a pass-defense mark of 67.8 to his team- mate's 58.5. Still, it wasn't an un- equivocally great season, and Collins is quick to ac- knowledge there were a few plays that didn't go his way. In the Lions' regular- season finale at Rutgers, wide receiver KJ Duff made a breathtaking one-handed catch over the PSU de- fensive back late in the fourth quarter. The two were sprinting downfield in lockstep when Duff extended his right arm and somehow held onto a seem- ingly overthrown ball while tumbling to the turf. Other than not being blessed with the wingspan of an NBA center, it's hard to think of anything Collins did wrong, but he ended up as the unwitting co-star of someone else's highlight clip, and that's never enjoyable. Also stuck firmly in his craw is a mo- ment from the fourth quarter of Penn State's visit to Iowa in October. On a handoff from the 8-yard line, Collins struggled to get off his block with run- ning back Kaden Wetgen heading his way on an end around. The Nittany Lion defender was able to extend an arm and tug at the sleeve of his jersey, but Wet- gen ran through the attempted tackle with ease and scored what would turn out to be the winning touchdown. It's a truism in football that corner- backs are supposed to have short mem- ories, but months later, Collins hasn't forgotten. "I left some plays out on the field," he conceded. "I feel like I had an amaz- ing year, but it was a stepping stone. … Against Iowa, I could have wrapped him up, and he ended up scoring. The play at Rutgers — there were just some plays like that. I feel like I've got some more to show. I've got another level that I haven't reached yet." 'He Wants To Be Better' When asked what that next level might look like, Collins left a lot to the imagination. Said the veteran corner- back, "You're going to see." Nothing would please Penn State's coaching staff more than for the second- year starter to elevate his game yet again. With Harris having transferred to Indi- ana, Collins will team up with sopho- more Daryus Dixson, a rising star who earned the defensive backfield's second- highest PFF pass-coverage grade (76.3) during his debut season. The two cor- nerbacks are part of a unit that figures to be a strength of this year's team. For Collins, it's the culmination of a journey that began 980 miles south of State College. He had started out his career at Mississippi State, head- ing to Starkville as a consensus three- star prospect after excelling in all three phases of the game at Newton (Ga.) High. But he didn't see action for the Bulldogs as a true freshman and didn't make enough headway the following spring to stick around. Collins entered the transfer portal in April 2023 and was picked up a few weeks later by Penn State. The Nittany Lions had lost All-America cornerback Joey Porter Jr. to the NFL, and the player they thought they had lined up as a re- placement — North Carolina transfer Storm Duck — left PSU without ever playing a game. Collins was brought aboard after Duck flew off to Louisville, but not without some misgivings. One of the reasons he hadn't gotten on the field at Mississippi State was his size. He was listed at 6-foot, 165 pounds on the Bulldogs' roster, and former PSU coach James Franklin thought even that was an exaggeration. "He needs to eat a few sandwiches," "The day he came in, I said, 'You're little, and nobody's rooting for little guys. You've got to prove us all wrong.'" C O R N E R B A C K S C O A C H T E R R Y S M I T H O N C O L L I N S Quick Facts Position coaches: Terry Smith (cornerbacks, 13th season); Deon Broomfield (safeties, first season) Returning starters: CB Audavion Collins (15 career starts), NB Zion Tracy (13) Departing starters: CB A.J. Harris (26), S King Mack (8), S Zakee Wheatley (28) Projected new starters: CB Daryus Dixson, S Marcus Neal Jr., S Jamison Patton or Jeremiah Cooper Top reserves: CB Joshua Johnson, CB Jahmir Joseph, CB Xxavier Thomas, S Omarion Davis, S Ibn McDaniels, S Vaboue Toure Newcomers: CB Tyrell Chatman, CB Hunter Sowell, CB Josiah Zayas, S Christian Askew, S Bryson Williams, Cooper, Davis, McDaniels, Neal, Patton