Twitter: @CoachC_Collins
CHRIS COLLINS MIC'D UP
Chris Collins, Georgia State’s safeties coach since joining the staff for the 2017 season, took on the added responsibility of recruiting coordinator beginning in 2019 and helped GSU sign a 2020 recruiting class that had the highest average player ranking in program history, according to 247Sports.
He was chosen for the 2018 American Football Coaches Association 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute.
In 2017 in his first year with the Panthers, Collins helped coached a defensive unit that set the Georgia State season record for fewest points allowed per game (24.75) while tutoring All-Sun Belt Conference safety Bryan Williams.
Collins came to GSU after one season at Western Carolina, where he coached the linebackers, including all-conference selection Tyson Dickson. He spent the 2015 season as a defensive graduate assistant coach at Appalachian State, helping the Mountaineers to an 11-2 record and a victory in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl and working with all-conference honoree Devan Stringer.
He previously spent two seasons (2013-14) as secondary coach and special teams coordinator at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., while also serving as the academic coordinator for the NCAA Division II program. At Catawba, Collins coached All-America defensive back L.J. McCray, who went on to play three seasons in the NFL after signing as a free agent, as well as two all-conference selections.
Collins began his coaching career at Western Carolina, his alma mater, by serving as a student assistant in 2010 and then a defensive assistant in 2011-12.
In 2015, he participated in the NFL-NCAA Coaches Academy.
The High Point, N.C., native was an All-Southern Conference defender for the Catamounts who finished with more than 300 career tackles. He was also a three-time selection to the SoCon Academic Honor Roll before earning his B.S. in construction management with a minor in business administration from Western Carolina in 2010.
He is married to the former Kiara Crutchfield.
