What will new Penn State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins look for when recruiting kickers and punters?

Penn State hired Stacy Collins to be its new special teams coordinator in January.

The 46-year-old has never coached on the east coast before, which is saying something seeing that he’s coached just about everywhere. That’s hyperbolic of course. But, the Oregon native has coached in five different states and even spent three seasons in Austria.

Collins, who replaces Joe Lorig, hit the ground running as a recruiter at his new school. He played a key role in Penn State signing Graham, Wash., On3 Consensus three-star offensive lineman Vega Ioane last week. And, he figures to open doorways for the Lions on the west coast, in the south, and possibly overseas, as well.

“Talking about the Black Hills [of South Dakota and Wyoming], and South Dakota, when I was out there as a head coach [at South Dakota School of Mines], we truly recruited nationals,” Collins told reporters last week.

“We were taking guys out of Texas, we’re taking guys on the Eastern Seaboard. I’ve worked internationally, we’ve been able to recruit internationally off that. So, certainly [also] understand the footprint of what we have at Penn State.”

What kind of recruiter will Collins be?

Collins is an enthusiastic person, at least based on his first interaction with reporters. He comes off as not only knowledgeable about what he coaches, of course, but also dedicated to building a bond both with his players and the prospects he is charged with recruiting.

“Recruiting is recruiting,” he said. “It’s about the relationships that you can create, certainly with the player, but just as importantly, the parents, and the coaches with that. As I’ve went throughout the United States, from Alaska to Hawaii, all the way over to recruiting internationally … I’m going to create those relationships with a player, their parents, and really that genuine piece of it.

“[It’s about] making sure that you spend the time that they understand that relationship is genuine and that you’re putting their son in the best position that has success both on the field.”

It’s a line of thought that meshes well with what James Franklin wants out of his assistant coaches.

“That’s one of the things that excites me about Penn State and working for Coach Franklin,” Collins continued. “You’re doing both at an elite level, from the opportunity to compete at the highest, elite level and the same thing from an academic standard with this university.”

How will Collins recruit specialists at Penn State?

One key question for every special teams coordinator is this: How does one determine who is a scholarship-worthy kicker and punter as opposed to someone who could develop as a walk-on?

Here’s how Collins explained it:

“I think when you’re scholarship’ing a guy directly out of high school, I make the analogy similar to a baseball pitcher,” Collin said. “You can throw in the 90s or you can’t, and does that ball jump off his foot the way it needs to jump off? There’s really only a handful of guys throughout the nation, quite frankly throughout the world, that have that elite status. That’s what you’re looking to get.”

Collins used a former pupil, Matt Overton, as an example. He’s now in his ninth NFL season and first with the Super Bowl-bound Los Angeles Rams.

“We had Matt Overton when I was at Western Washington, and back then, D-2, you could work them out,” Collins said. “The first three snaps he fired back, it was lightning, and you knew right then what it was. I’d say the same thing as you’re evaluating kickers and punters. There is a snap, there’s a pop, you can hear it off the ball, and there’s a small group of guys [who have that].”

It doesn’t mean Penn State will recruit only scholarship specialists, however.

“We’ve been able to get some guys [who] walked on at several different places and develop into great players. I’ve seen it done both ways,” Collins said.

“But, what you’re really looking for when you scholarship right away is that elite talent, and then you got to find that mental mindset. Can he kick in front of 107,000 people? Can he punt it in those situations when the game is truly on the line?”