Penn State football has not been good in 2026. That’s no secret.

Yet, bright spots remain on both sides of the ball. Wide receiver Chase Sowell and cornerback Audavion Collins have made their cases as perhaps Penn State’s most valuable players in their respective units.

There’s been a real “iron sharpens iron” mentality within the Lasch Football Building over recent weeks. The top players have been going at it more in practice since Penn State’s Big Ten skid started, but Sowell and Collins have been going at it well before the season.

“We hated each other when I first got in here, but it was because we were so competitive that we just wanted to win. That’s why,” Sowell said. “It wasn’t like a, ‘I don’t like you,’ or ‘I don’t like how you do things,’ … It was more like, ‘I want to beat you,’ and he wants to beat me, and I’m not letting you beat me.”

That mentality has worked for both of them, even if the overall team isn’t at its best.

Sowell has stepped up massively since Koby Howard went down with an injury before Big Ten play, diving into a top receiver role and furthering his connection with Rocco Becht. Sowell reeled in a career-best 151 yards against Michigan.

Collins has been as lockdown of a corner as anyone else in college football. He’s allowed only four completions on 15 targets through seven games, according to PFF. He’s had to pull a lot of weight on Penn State’s struggling defense without much of a pass rush.

“He’s a guy that stepped up in that leadership role and just speaks volumes. How much he speaks, he doesn’t have to say a whole lot, but when he does say something, everybody’s listening,” Sowell said.

Sowell and Collins might have had an ultra-competitive edge against each other in camp because their journeys to Penn State were similar.

Penn State is Sowell’s fourth program in five years. He stopped at Colorado, East Carolina, and Iowa State before landing his breakout spot as a Nittany Lion.

Collins spent his freshman year at Mississippi State, where he didn’t play a game. He transferred to Penn State ahead of the 2023 season and played in all 16 games in 2024. He’s started every game over the last two years and is not only one of the defense’s best players, but one of the team’s best players.

“As far as being at Mississippi State, being overlooked, he’s an under-recruited guy. Coach Terry [Smith] takes him under his wing. Nobody really believes in him. You got one guy that believes in him,” Sowell said. “He believes in himself, and he takes off with it. That’s what made us connect and make us have that certain respect for each other.”

Whatever the rest of the season holds in store for Penn State, Sowell and Collins have proven their value to the team and possibly to some NFL scouts.

Penn State fans can only hope other players are taking the best out of each other in camp and practice, like Sowell and Collins, to keep the locker room competitive and eager to get better every day.

“It’s almost like you see your alter ego in the mirror. You see [how] we do a whole lot different things, but we really have the same path. We really have the same amount of struggles … I respect the heck out of him because [of] him not giving up,” Sowell said.