Cayson Collins looks to boost UNC's defense against Miami

For eight weeks Cayson Collins thought too much.

He wasn’t confident in what he knew about the defensive system. He constantly worried about making mistakes.

His time on the field was limited and when he was in-between the sidelines, he didn’t do much: just six tackles in UNC’s first seven games.

Against Virginia on Saturday though, Collins stopped thinking.

“It was just a lot of fun,” he said after a rainy practice Wednesday afternoon. “It was probably the first game I actually knew everything that I was supposed to do as far as my responsibilities, taking care of my assignments.

“That was really the first game where I was reacting more than I was thinking.”

That comfort led to a career-best, eight-tackle game for the freshman — tied for the second-most tackles of the game with Travis Hughes.

Now, Collins is a legend… at least among his own teammates.

“It’s crazy coming from the players,” he said. “I got interviewed for the first time after the game so they are calling me superstar now.”

As for the coaches, well, they’re expecting more from him. 

“After playing such a great game, they expect me to do more in practice,” Collins said. “I’m just having to step up.

“Getting more reps, actually seeing myself on film, learning from the mistakes I do make.”

Collins’ improvement at this point in the season is a huge boost to a team that has struggled with depth on defense and is preparing to take on a Miami team that regularly lets loose running back Duke Johnson.

“(Johnson) is a tremendous challenge. He has been every year he’s been there,” said coach Larry Fedora. “The guy’s got great speed, he’s very, very elusive, he can run through you. And he’s having a tremendous year this year.”

Johnson leads the Hurricane offense and is second in the ACC with 1,036 rushing yards, while averaging 7.5 yards per carry.

The Tar Heels are planning on slowing down that running game as much as possible in Miami, and Collins has many of the tools to help with that.

“He’s a tremendous athlete,” said defensive coordinator Vic Koenning of Collins.

Before Collins came to Chapel Hill, coach Fedora raved about Collins’ running ability and within a year of getting to campus, he’s gained 20 pounds of muscle to along with it. 

“I’m a lot stronger than when I came in,” Collins said. “And that’s carried over to the field, getting off of blocks and filling gaps, holding my ground.”

Collins is finally starting to put the strength and speed to good use even though it might have taken a bit longer than he and Koenning would have liked.

“I was hoping that earlier in the season he would have been able to pick it up and been able to do more things,” Koenning said. “So we have kind of played him at the pace that he’s been ready to play.”

Now that he’s stopped thinking, Collins has shown that he’s ready. And with the Coastal Division still a shuffle between six different teams, it’s not too late.

While Koenning might have preferred that Collins be ready for week one, he’s still excited with what he’s doing now. And he wants more of it.

“We’re anxious to get more guys like Cayson Collins.”

sports@dailytarheel.com