What's behind Penn State cornerback Audavion Collins' big year two jump? He and Terry Smith explain

Penn State cornerback Audavion Collins was the talk of spring practice behind closed doors and out on the fields between Holuba Hall and the Lasch Building. The Covington, Ga., native played sparingly in year one in a veteran-laden room. Position coach Terry Smith hypothesized recently that all of the talent in front of the former Mississippi State Bulldog may be part of the reason why he didn’t flash as much in 2023.

“My thought process is sometimes, when you’re behind guys that have been there playing, you take a backseat and just allow them to just be what they are,” Smith said earlier this month. “And now, the room is wide open. Who is the starter? There is no returning starter. So every guys sees an opportunity.”

Collins is one of them. Smith went on to say that the spring made it challenging to set his initial pecking order in terms of starters, backups, and rotational reps because of how competitive and deep the room is.

Transfers AJ Harris and Jalen Kimber join returners like Collins, Cam Miller, Zion Tracy, and Elliot Washington II. All will play. But, the spring offered each player his first chance to carve out his role. And, while seemingly all took a step forward, no one did so more than Collins. He was named the Jim O’Hora award winner as the spring’s most improved Penn State position player regardless of position.

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“Audavion has made the biggest gain of anyone in the room from where he was at the end of last season to now,” Smith said. “He’s a night and day different player. He’s the most consistent guy out there, [and] he’s putting days together and his consistency has been just incredible. I’m super excited where he’s at. He’s a tough, hard-nosed kid that has a chip on his shoulder, and he plays that way every day, and like I said, of all the guys in the room, he’s had the best for spring.”

Collins told reporters after the Blue-White game that his time at Penn State so far has gone as expected. He knew snaps would be tough to come by a year ago. He, like Smith, credited his transformation from year one to year two not just to the opportunities that could be seized from a playing time perspective but also to improvement in the way he works on and off the field each day.

“I’ve just been super locked in and paying attention to every detail, trying to be a good teammate, and just working day in and day out, and take it one day at a time,” Collins said. Being “locked in” is something he referred to repeatedly during an interview with reporters in the Beaver Stadium media room.

“Coach Terry [Smith], and my teammates pushed me to go hard each and every day. And just me working and taking day one, day two, just one day at a time and not looking too far in the future or too far past. Just stay consistent. Just being consistent day in and day out.”

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Collins will now aim to take the work he put in so far and apply it to the grueling summer workouts and position meetings that awaited he and his teammates before preseason camp. If all goes as planned, he will be a heavily-used part of the rotation. Even a starter, perhaps. It might be a surprising revelation, considering how little he played in 2023. But, Smith should be taken at his word about the big jump the Penn State cornerback has made.

“I expected everything to go the way of the plan, just sitting back and learning from the older guys last year, and then this upcoming year, just taking a big step forward and just being a better me for the team and just to be better for me,” Collins said. Just locked in.

“There’s a lot of competition in the room. We got a good room, a talented, everybody competing, and it makes everybody go hard. So one day if somebody’s slacking, you see everybody working hard, so it makes you want to go out hard, so I feel like we got a good, competitive room this year.