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

James Franklin and Penn State will see a familiar face on the opposing 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 with 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 will 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 game a few weeks ago.

Collins had success with the Nittany Lions. Penn State’s Pro Football Focus special teams grade 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, having him on staff and his familiarity with Penn State.

“It’s been awesome,” Danielson said. “Just like anything, he’s been able to talk me through the things they did there. He’s able to talk through the personnel. They hired a new special teams coordinator. They are doing some similar things, but they have a lot of new stuff they are doing. Not much of a help in that phase.

“But Stacy Collins, the amount of prep that he goes into, to be able to game plan all special teams. He does all of it from the 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 do have some similarities; they have also evolved and grown.

“We are looking at it for face value and how we can play our best on special teams. We have grown at the end of the season. We need to do a really good job of winning the hidden yards in this game. It will be really hard. They have played well on special teams. Extremely physical, very explosive. Being able to pick his brain every week we play someone on special teams is huge for me. And game management, as well. But it does help that he was at Penn State and can have a little bit of an inside view.”