POSITION: Defensive Coordinator
Jordan Collins enters his fifth season at ETBU in 2023 and the first year as the defensive coordinator for new head coach Calvin Ruzicka. Collins will also continue to serve as the defensive line coach. He brings a wealth of college playing from NCAA Division I and coaching at the NCAA Division III levels. In August 2022, he was selected as Bill Walsh Diversity Fellow for the NFL preseason camps with the Indianapolis Colts. He spent two weeks with the Colts coaching staff learning new ways of coaching.
Ruzicka says about Collins, "Jordan has a very similar philosophy to mine when it comes to defense and how it should be played, which is aggressive. He's an excellent teacher to our players as far as scheme, technique, and develops them to their full potential. I am proud of the way he builds relationships with all of our players not just in his position group and his passion and energy is contagious and our players feed off that."
Collins is a staple in the ETBU defense that has become one of the best in NCAA Division III. He has coached the defensive line the past four years, developing talent to become the best in the American Southwest Conference. In 2022, defensive end
Jahkamian Carr earned All-ASC first team and was D3football.com All-Region second team. Following Carr,
Cameron Kaufert (second team) and
Christian Booker (third team) were also named All-ASC for the defensive line, as nine defensive players earned All-ASC awards. The ETBU defense finished the 2022 regular season first in the nation for team tackles for loss at 9.2 per game and was 13
th in sacks at 3.4 per game while leading the ASC with 34 sacks.
In the spring 2021 season, he coached two players that received All-ASC awards. James Wright IV was a second team selection while De'Quallon Jenkins was honorable mention. Wright finished with three total sacks for the spring season in five games.
In the past four years, there have been nine All-ASC players for the defensive line under Collins. In each season the defensive line has become better through his development. This past year, ETBU finished third in the ASC in overall defense allowing just 22.1 points per game and had three defensive linemen in the top 10 for sacks.
In 2018, Collins served as assistant strength and conditioning coach as well as the defensive line coach at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Prior to his coaching role, Collins had the opportunity to play at the junior college and NCAA Division I levels. He played for the Cisco Wranglers in 2014 before transferring to Incarnate Word University where he was able to help the Cardinals win a Southland Conference Championship and a spot in the FCS Playoffs in 2018 under Coach Eric Morris.
Collins graduated from Incarnate Word with a Bachelors in Philosophy, and a concentration in Pre-law in 2018 and received his Masters Degree in Strategic Communications from ETBU in 2021.
He is the proud son of Byron and Verlinda Collins, brother of Jared Williams and Janee’ Collins. He attends New Macedonia Baptist Church.
