Is special teams coach Stacy Collins Boise State’s secret weapon against Penn State?

Along with retaining star tailback Ashton Jeanty, one of Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson’s biggest offseason coups was plucking away Penn State special teams coordinator Stacy Collins.
Collins, a former linebacker for Division II Western Oregon, coached with Danielson at Boise State in 2021 before joining James Franklin’s staff at Penn State. When presented with an opportunity to return to the Pacific Northwest last January, Collins again made the cross-country leap.
Collins, who holds the title of associate head coach under Danielson, also coaches special teams and linebackers for the third-seeded Broncos (12-1). Boise State will face the sixth-seeded Nittany Lions (12-2) in Tuesday’s Fiesta Bowl.
Does Collins possess inside information on Penn State’s strengths and weaknesses? Not necessarily, but Danielson will happily take any edge he can get for the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.
“He’s been able to talk through some of the things they did there,” Danielson said of Collins. “He’s able to talk through some of the personnel. Obviously they hired a new special teams coordinator. They are doing some of the same things, but they’ve got a lot of new stuff they are using. So it’s not so much maybe a help in that phase, but Stacy Collins, the amount of prep he goes into to be able to game plan all special teams … just being able to have an idea of their personnel and know a little about who these players are … is helpful.”
Franklin spoke glowingly of his former special teams coordinator during Sunday’s Fiesta Bowl media day festivities. Collins took over for previous special teams coach Joe Lorig, another Western Oregon graduate who left Penn State to lead Dan Lanning’s special teams unit at Oregon.
“Stacy is a great guy,” Franklin said. “For us, when I lose a coordinator, I don’t want to start from scratch. I want to kind of stay in a similar system so the players aren’t learning. Stacy fell under that umbrella.
“He came to us, did a great job and … that’s the challenge sometimes. You hire West Coast guys, then they get an opportunity to get back closer to home. Him and (Spencer Danielson) are very good friends. When (Danielson) took over, it was an opportunity for him to get back home and get back closer to a program he’s familiar with, so it made sense. We hated to lose him, but I also understood it.”
Danielson doesn’t believe there will be any extra motivation for Collins in a matchup with his former team.
“Coach Collins, if you know him, he’s excited for every game,” Danielson said. “You come into a special teams meeting, and it’s on.”
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