All 105 is a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State football player. This edition will look at second-year defensive back and Mississippi State transfer Audavion Collins.
Height: 5-foot-11
Weight: 170 pounds
Hometown: Covington, Georgia
Before Penn State: Collins (6-feet, 165 pounds) is set to come to Penn State after one season in Starkville, where he didn’t play in any games. Before that, the Covington, Georgia, native he was a consensus three-star recruit out of Newton High School, and committed to Mississippi State in August 2021. He entered the transfer portal in April and received an offer from Penn State at the beginning May. Collins also had offers from Akron and Western Kentucky, but he ended up announcing his commitment to Penn State May 16.
Where he stands: Collins is part of a loaded position group. Kalen King is set to fill new Steeler Joey Porter Jr’s shoes well as the team’s top corner, and could even be the top corner taken in the 2024 Draft. Johnny Dixon has four seasons of college football experience— two each at South Carolina and Penn State— and started all 13 games last season. The fifth-year senior is expected to again be a big part of coordinator Manny Diaz’s defense in 2023. Nickelback Daequan Hardy is also entering Year 5, and should see quite a bit of playing time come September. Cam Miller also has a lot of promise heading into his second year. Penn State also has true freshmen in three-star Lamont Payne (Bridgeville, Pennsylvania), four-star Elliot Washington (Venice, Florida) and three-star Zion Tracy (St. Thomas More), who will be in the mix as well.
It’s hard to say what Collins will bring to Penn State since he didn’t get any playing time for Mississippi State last season, but it never hurts to have enough depth.
A quote about Collins: “We had gotten the transfer portal and got a young man (Storm Duck) and then that young man ended up leaving. Finding another guy like that was important, and we went back and watched his (Collins’s) high school tape. He’s in a slightly different situation. He’s got four years of eligibility, which is unusual. So we had to go back and watch his high school tape. We liked his high school tape.” — James Franklin on Collins at a coaches media availability in June.
