Penn State football’s 4-4 record certainly indicates a team riddled with inconsistencies. Before the Nittany Lions’ 31-17 win over Purdue last Saturday, Penn State struggled to run the ball, stop the run, rush the passer, and find explosive downfield passing plays in Big Ten play.

Only one unit has not wavered in 2026 for the blue and white: the defensive backs.

Led by Zion Tracy, Audavion Collins, Daryus Dixson, Josiah Zayas, Jamison Patton, and Jeremiah Cooper, Penn State’s secondary is surrendering just 141.1 passing yards per game, which ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 3 in the nation.

Furthermore, opposing signal callers have completed just 53.6% of their passes when playing Penn State.

Most fans see the unit’s dominance on Saturdays, but only those within the Lasch Football Building know that the switch never flips for Penn State’s defensive backs.

“They’re a lot of fun from a competition standpoint and what they bring. They’re not afraid to let me know it when it’s not there, and they lock everybody down,” offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser said Tuesday. “There’s blood in the water there at all times.”

Zayas, a true freshman, has been a mainstay in the secondary, logging 2.5 tackles for loss, three pass deflections, and two interceptions, one going for a pick-six and the other a ridiculous Odell Beckham Jr.-esque snag.

But make no mistake: Collins is the group’s top dog.

The redshirt senior has played a unit-high 354 snaps this season, proving too valuable to sit out despite the depth of Penn State’s cornerback room.

Collins excels in coverage, using game-breaking speed highlighted by a 4.28-second 40-yard dash time. He leads Penn State with nine pass breakups, more than doubling the second-place Zion Tracy’s four.

“You’re not just going to destroy [Collins] on a route; it’s going to be tight. You have to want the ball more than he wants the ball,” Mouser said. “He does a good job of making everyone else around him better because he’s the hardest-working guy on the field at all times.”

Collins’ athleticism is so valuable he actually took a snap on offense against the Boilermakers, turning a jet sweep around the edge for a 12-yard gain.

Collins said it was his first time playing offense since high school.

“How many different ways can we use his skill set to help us win football games right now?” Campbell said. “That’s the biggest thing for me, and what that guy’s about is everything you want a star player to be about.”

Beyond his electrifying on-field presence, Collins is a locker-room leader, often putting in extra work with receivers to build a competitive environment.

Receiver Brett Eskildsen, who transferred from Iowa State in January, said he learned “very quickly” that Collins was an extreme competitor.

“I was out in the winter, I had shoulder surgery, so I was coming back, but [Collins] was like, ‘Hey, whenever you get back, we got to get on the field and do releases together. We got to start training,'” Eskildsen said.

In the weight room, Eskildsen said Collins is “always” looking over at the racks of other players trying to add more weight or reps to his lifts.

But perhaps Collins’ most cutthroat competition is a race.

“We’ve definitely competed, but we’ve never lined up and run a 40-yard dash against each other,” Eskildsen said. “It depended on the day, but I think my top speed was faster in the summer.”

Both players were clocked at more than 23 mph during summer training.

Collins also said he enjoys battling with receiver Koby Howard in practice. Howard has been out since Week 3, when he suffered an injury against Buffalo.

Collins said the highlight of his friendly competition with Howard is one-on-one sessions after most players and coaches have cleared out.

“We always try to push each other no matter what we’re doing,” Collins said Wednesday. “It’s just how he was brought up, and that’s just how I was brought up.”

Collins has four brothers and one sister, and despite a packed house, he says his father taught him the importance of relentless effort.

Another important figure in Collins’ life is none other than beloved cornerbacks coach Terry Smith.

With all the overhaul Penn State sustained this offseason, Smith has been an anchoring force on a coaching staff mostly made up of new faces.

“[Smith’s] meeting room is right across the hallway from mine. I hear the way that guy coaches, and it helps me be a better coach because I see him getting after those guys and the standard that he comes to meetings with every day, and the way those guys practice,” Mouser said.

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