Cards’ 1st-round pick ready for next step
Zaven Collins was such a big fish in such a small pond in the tiny town of Hominy, Oklahoma, that as his college coach so colorfully put it, if he ever got into any kind of trouble, “Mama’s going to find out about it probably before he even gets back home.”
Mama has meant everything to Zaven Collins, the Tulsa linebacker selected by the Cardinals wtth the 16th overall pick Thursday night in the NFL draft.
Haley Collins raised her son as a single parent, taking multiple part-time jobs to make things work. But the most important thing in her life has always been Zaven and making sure she kept finding ways to encourage him into being the best he could be.
Once it became clear that football could help him land a college scholarship, she did something remarkable.
“I’ve got a story for you,” Zaven said during his introductory news conference with Arizona reporters. “My mom doesn’t make much a year, and she was taking money out of her 401(k) to send me around the U.S. to go to all these different camps whether coaches wanted me on offense, defense, special teams — I didn’t care. We were going out there performing for these coaches and that’s what we wanted to do to be able to get a scholarship or even a chance.”
The only Division I program willing to offer Collins a scholarship was Tulsa, only 40 miles away from Hominy (population 3,338; total square miles 2.0).
Collins went from being a star quarterback and safety in high school to a scout-team tight end his first year at Tulsa. But upon being groomed into a linebacker, he thrived for the Golden Hurricane and finished his junior year in 2020 capturing the Lombardi Award, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Chuck Bednarik Award and consensus firstteam All-American honors.
His long and unlikely journey has now brought him to the NFL and the television cameras couldn’t have caught it any better when he and his family heard his name called to the Cardinals in the draft. Collins stood up, raised his hands in jubilation, and then covered his eyes, which were willing quickly with tears.
Then he embraced his mother and the two wept together.
“It has been in his mind for along time,” Haley told the Oklahoman in the days leading up to Thursday’s first round. “Zaven goes after what he wants. He proved everybody wrong when they told him TU wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He just made a name for himself. “That’s my kid.”
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Collins apologized for the tears afterward, telling reporters that was out of character for him.
“I never get that emotional,” he said.
“That’s something that I rarely do. But since this was something I’ve strived for since I was very young — for my family, for my team, for the town of Hominy, for Tulsa, for all my coaches — it was something that was so emotional to me that I couldn’t help it. I apologize to everyone. I was acting like a big baby up there, but man, I couldn’t help it.”
Who could blame him? Everyone else has always been telling him he couldn’t make it, that he wouldn’t be good enough to get into a Division I program let alone ever have a realistic chance to play in the NFL.
He apparently has won over the faith and trust of Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim and head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Both said they expect Collins to step in and play the MIKE linebacker role alongside last year’s first-round draft pick, Isaiah Simmons.
For that to happen, it would mean having to unseat Jordan Hicks as Arizona’s chief signal caller in the middle of the defense. But the thought of Collins being paired with the 6-4 Simmons, who can run a 4.3 40, is too intriguing to resist.
“Playing side-by-side with Isaiah Simmons, when you see those two guys in there with their length, it’s really like having two trees in the middle of the field,” Keim said.
To make a push for a starting role with the Cardinals, Collins said he wants to come in and “learn everything,” from the tiniest details about formations to every variation of coordinator Vance Joseph’s defensive schemes.
“Those were the big things in college for me,” he said.
“Those are the huge things that I’ve incorporated into my games and the way I play. I think about those things every down, situational awareness and game awareness.”