Penn State will face the former coach in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals vs. Boise State

James Franklin and Penn State will see a familiar face on the opposite sideline of State Farm Stadium when the Nittany Lions face Boise State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.

Stacy Collins, Penn State’s former special teams coordinator, is back at Boise State. Collins spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons managing the Nittany Lions’ special teams units. He also served as Penn State’s outside linebackers coach.

Now Collins has to coach against his old team when Penn State and Boise State meet in the Fiesta Bowl.

“He knows us well. We know him well,” Franklin said. “He’s done a really good job.”

Collins was hired by Franklin ahead of the 2022 season after spending 2021 with the Broncos. The Oregon native spent the majority of his coaching career in the western part of the country with stops in Washington, South Dakota, Utah and ultimately Idaho.

Franklin hired Collins to replace Joe Lorig, who left to join Dan Lanning’s first staff at Oregon. Lorig and the Ducks beat Penn State in the Big Ten championship a few weeks ago.

Collins had success with the Nittany Lions. Penn State’s Pro Football Focus special teams class ranked 14th in 2022 and eighth in 2023 out of 133 FBS teams. This year, Penn State’s special teams unit ranks 57th in the FBS under the direction of Justin Lustig.

Earlier this week, Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson was asked about Collins because of having him on the staff and his familiarity with Penn State.

“It’s been great,” Danielson said. “Like everything else, he’s been able to tell me the things they did there. He’s been able to talk through the staff. They hired a new special teams coordinator. They do some similar things, but they have a lot of new things, they do. Not much help at that stage.

“But Stacy Collins, the amount of preparation he goes into, to be able to scheme all the special teams. He does it all from field goal, field goal block, to all four units. Being able to have an idea of ​​their personnel, knowing a little bit about who these players are, some of the things they did last year, they have some similarities, they’ve also developed and grown.

“We’re looking at it at face value and how we can play our best on special teams. We’ve grown at the end of the season. We’re going to have to do a really good job of gaining the hidden yards in this game. It’s going to be really hard. They’ve played well on special teams. Being able to pick his brain every week is huge for me. But it helps that he was at Penn State and can have a small insight.”

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