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

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

Now Collins will practice 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 did a really good job.”

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

Franklin hired Collins to replace Joe Lorig, who left to join Dan Lanning’s first team at Oregon. Lorig and the Ducks defeated 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 ranked 14th out of 133 FBS teams in 2022 and eighth in 2023. This year, Penn State’s special forces unit, led by Justin Lustig, is ranked 57th in the FBS.

Earlier this week, Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson was asked about Collins, his tenure with the team and his familiarity with Penn State.

“It was great,” Danielson said. “Like anything else, he could tell me what they did there. He is able to speak through the staff. They hired a new special teams coordinator. They do some similar things, but they have a lot of new things that they do. Not much help at this stage.

“But Stacy Collins, how much preparation he puts in to be able to game-plan all the special teams. He does everything from the field goal to the field goal block to all four units. The ability to get a sense of their personnel, to know a little bit about who these players are and what they did last year. They have some similarities; They have also evolved and grown.

“We look at it at face value and how we can do our best on special teams. We grew at the end of the season. We have to do a really good job of gaining those hidden yards in this game. It’s going to be really hard. They played well on special teams. Extremely physical, very explosive. The opportunity to test your brain every week we play someone on special teams is huge for me. And also game management. But it helps that he went to Penn State and can get a little insight on the inside.”

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