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According to this tweet from CBS's Bruce Feldman, Mississippi State defensive coordinator Geoff Collins has picked up Florida State's attention for its vacant defensive coordinator position.
Hearing that #MissState DC geoff collins is a strong candidate for #FSU DC vacancy. Collins has impressive resume from work at MSU & FIU
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) January 17, 2014
Collins, who took over the play-calling duties in the 2013 Gator Bowl, handled the defensive coordinator duties full time in 2013. During his first year, the Bulldogs gave up 23 points per contest. Opponents picked up 144 yards per game on the ground, scoring 17 total rushing touchdown. Through the air, foes of the Bulldogs averaged 205 yards per game and scored a total of 18 touchdowns. Mississippi State also picked off 14 passes and forced 12 fumbles while recovering eleven of them.
Collins came to Mississippi State in 2011 as the Linebacker Coach/Co-Defensive Coordinator after spending one year in the same position at Florida International. Collins also spent the 2008-2009 seasons at Central Florida, so he is a coach with ties to the Sunshine State.
As far as ACC ties, Collins had two stints at Georgia Tech. The first one came during the 1999-2001 seasons as a graduate assistant, and after spending the 2002-2005 seasons at Western Carolina as the Catamounts' defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, Collins returned to Georgia Tech as the recruiting coordinator in 2006.
Mississippi State also has to replace their former offensive coordinator, Les Koenning, who took the Wide Receivers coach position at Texas earlier this week.
