Top 10 linebackers in the 2021 NFL Draft:

#3 NFL Draft Prospect: Zaven Collins (Tulsa)

6’ 4”, 260 pounds; RS JR

Zaven Collins

Once outside the top 2000 overall recruits, Zaven Collins redshirted his first year with Tulsa and was a very good player already as a two-year starter in the AAC.

However, he saw a meteoric rise in 2020 at the heart of a very good Hurricane defense. In eight games, he recorded 54 tackles, 7.5 of them for loss, four sacks, two forced fumbles and four interceptions, of which he took two back to the house.

For his exploits, Collins was named the Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, a unanimous All-American and the winner of the Nagurski, Bednarik and Lombardi awards. The first two usually go to the top defensive player in the country and the latter one to the best player regardless of position.

Collins has a good frame and primarily lined up as a stack WILL backer behind a three-down front.

He displays a quick trigger in the run game, trusting what his eyes show him and instantly reacting to pulling linemen. Unlike most modern linebackers, he has a strong base to hold his ground against guards climbing up on him. With some strike in his hands, he can make the pads of big linemen pop back, and he usually keeps them in extension to where the ball-carrier runs into the blocker’s back at times.

Collins can shove-pull guards to the side at times and wrap up the ball-carrier. Centers have almost no shot in sealing him off and even when linemen find a way to engage with him as they climb up, they rarely get inside his chest, as he finds ways to disengage them.

Collins does a good job of leveraging the ball when he is responsible for C-gap out, and he is like a grizzly to get away from when he wraps up ball-carriers. He has the thunder behind his pads to deliver splash hits. He has become a more reliable tackle, making a ton of ankle tackles when he can’t get a clear shot on the guy with the rock.

And his pursuit speed at 260 pounds is just absurd. A guy his size should not be able to run through the backside A-gap on wide zone runs and still chase the running back down from behind. But it’s also just him blowing up tunnel screen when lined up in between the tackles or banging somebody out of bounds at the opposite side of the field.

In pass coverage, Collins was primarily responsible for the shallow zones, either on hook drops or covering the flats when lined up outside the tackle. Last season, he looked much lighter on his feet, not only in tracking down ball-carriers on speed sweeps but also his ability to move backward and laterally in space. He also shows good bounce to his step when he has a running back approaching him and trying to read his leverage to break either way.

Two years ago in the Oklahoma State game, Collins brought down RB Chuba Hubbard for a 10-yard loss on a screen play on a third-and-long. In 2019, he was used more as an edge defender but still showed prowess in passing downs, where he displayed a natural feel for using his hands on a well-timed chop-rip, combining with his ability to corner off his inside foot.

Yet, he was equally effective rushing up the middle and coming on plenty of delayed blitzes when a lane opened up. Collins was the only linebacker to earn a PFF grade of at least 90 while rushing the passer and in coverage last season.

He had many huge, clutch plays for the Hurricanes: a game-winning pick-six in overtime against Tulsa, a game-sealing INT against SMU, an incredible TFL that resulted in a safety on a zone run play against UCF, which was part of his team's upset victory down in Florida.

Collins isn’t the easiest projection to the NFL because Tulsa played a lot of Oki front with three down-linemen and the ends in 4i alignments, where he really only read A-gap to C if something went out to the edges.

He can get overrun in fits at times, allowing cutbacks in the process. While he graded out, he did a lot of simple spot drops in coverage, not being asked to carry anybody down the seams.

When he comes off the edge, he tends to aim at the wrong hip and lets quarterbacks escape to the outside on too many occasions. But I wouldn’t say he contributes as much in that regard yet to be out there over true schooled pass-rushers. So there’s the possibility of him being one of those guys who have trouble sticking in one spot as a tweener between on-ball and stand-up backer.

Nevertheless, I think this is one of the cases where you can’t overthink it. It’s hard to find a linebacker who is built for the modern NFL in terms of the athletic skillset at 260 pounds.

Collins could make an impact shooting gaps or being a stack-and-shed run defender. He could take on a versatile role as a pressure player. If his responsibilities in coverage are limited, he can have major production in that area, something he showed in the last season and can be built on.