ChrisCollins

Chris Collins enters his fifth season as the defensive backs coach with the University of Kentucky football program in 2025, and his second season as the co-defensive coordinator after being promoted in 2024.

Through his four seasons in Lexington, Collins has coached an accomplished group of defensive backs, including current NFL players Maxwell Hairston (Buffalo Bills), Andru Phillips (NY Giants), Keidron Smith (Denver Broncos), Carrington Valentine (Green Bay Packers).

Hairston became UK’s first defensive back taken in the first round of the NFL Draft after he was selected as the 30th overall pick to the Buffalo Bulls in 2025.  In 2024, Phillips was a third-round choice by the New York Giants after an impressive junior season that saw him chart 47 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss and five pass breakups. In his lone season at Kentucky after transferring from Ole Miss, Smith earned All-SEC Second Team honors after totaling 46 tackles, five PBU, a team-high-tying two interceptions, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a tackle for loss. Valentine was drafted in the seventh round by the Green Bay Packers in 2023. He declared for the draft after a stellar junior season, which included 48 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss and leading UK and ranked ninth in the Southeastern Conference in passes defended with 11 (10 PBU and one INT).

Collins is coming off a season that featured a mostly veteran group that excited Big Blue Nation prior to 2024. Some of those names included Hairston, Zion Childress, Kristian Story, Jordan Lovett and JQ Hardaway. Meanwhile, stacked behind them, he had exciting up-and-comers like Michigan transfer DJ Waller and Lexington native Ty Bryant. The room helped a veteran defense that ranked top five in the Southeastern Conference and top 20 in the nation in red zone defense (70.8%), fewest passing yards allowed per game (183.7) and first down defense (215 total).

Hairston, one of the most compelling stories from the 2025 NFL Draft, was a three-year letter winner and two-year starter under Collins, playing in 32 career games with 20 starting assignments. He totaled 89 career tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, with one sack and added 10 pass breakups, six interceptions and three forced fumbles. Three of his six interceptions were pick-sixes, which tied the school record – also owned by Dallas Owens (1974-77) – for most career interceptions returned for touchdowns.

In 2023, then-sophomore defensive back Hairston led the SEC and ranked fifth nationally in interceptions with five, earning All-SEC Second Team and All-America Honorable Mention honors. He added 68 tackles (third on the team), along with a team-high six pass breakups and a forced fumble. Phillips also shined under Collins as he charted 47 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and five pass breakups, before declaring for the NFL Draft.

The UK defense has finished fourth (2021), second (2022) and seventh (2023) in the SEC in total defense. In 2022, the Cats finished 11th in the nation in total defense, allowing opponents to just 311.4 yards per game in 2022. Kentucky also ranked third in the SEC and 13th in the nation in scoring defense, giving up on average 19.2 points per game, a testament to the defensive back unit.

Collins came to Kentucky after four seasons (2017-20) as the safeties coach at Georgia State, helping the Panthers advance to a bowl game in three of his four seasons.

In his first year at GSU in 2017, he helped coach a defensive unit that set the school’s season record for fewest points allowed per game (24.75), while tutoring All-Sun Belt Conference safety Bryan Williams, who tied the school record for interceptions in a season with four. The Panthers finished 7-5 overall with a 27-17 win over Western Kentucky in the AutoNation Cure Bowl.

In 2019, the Panthers again went 7-5 overall with an appearance in the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl.
Along with coaching the safeties, he also took on the added responsibility of recruiting coordinator, helping GSU sign a 2020 recruiting class that had the highest average player ranking in program history, according to 247Sports.

Despite the challenges of navigating a season during COVID-19, Collins helped lead the Panthers to a 6-4 overall record which included a 39-21 win over Western Kentucky in the 2020 LendingTree Bowl. Redshirt freshman safety Antavious Lane tied the school record for interceptions in a season with four in just eight games played. Lane went on to earn second-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors and was a member of the Associated Press All-Bowl team after totaling five tackles and an interception, the first pick thrown by WKU QB Tyrell Pigrome all season after 278 attempts. He helped the GSU defense allow just 284 total yards in the game.

Before Georgia State, Collins coached the linebackers at his alma mater, Western Carolina, in 2016. He was an integral part in helping Tyson Dickson earn second-team All-Southern Conference honors by the league’s head coaches with 86 tackles.

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 over Ohio in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl. He worked closely with all-conference linebacker Devan Stringer.

From 2013-14, he served as the secondary coach and special teams coordinator at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, 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 in defensive back Mark McDaniel and punter Caleb Berry.

Collins, 35, was a four-year letter winner and two-year captain as a safety and outside linebacker at Western Carolina from 2006-09. He recorded 303 tackles during his collegiate career, including 109 as a senior in 2009, when he earned second-team All-Southern Conference recognition. He finished his career with 19 tackles for loss (including 12.5 as a senior), nine forced fumbles (including a SoCon-best six as a junior) and five pass breakups.

A three-time member of the SoCon’s academic honor roll, Collins graduated from Western Carolina in 2010 with a degree in construction management and a minor in business administration.

Following the conclusion of his playing career, he spent three seasons on WCU’s coaching staff, first as a student assistant in 2010 and as a defensive assistant in 2011-12, working primarily with the Catamounts’ linebackers and defensive backs. In 2010, he helped tutor freshman defensive back Randy Pressely, who was named to the SoCon Coaches’ All-Freshman Team.

The High Point, North Carolina native, graduated from T.W. Andrews High School. He is married to the former Kiara Crutchfield of Greensboro, N.C. The couple has two sons, Christopher and Kyle.

Collins’ Coaching Career: