Back at tackle, Collins shines

Virginia coach Al Groh, who doubles as the team’s defensive coordinator, remembered the solid game that Nate Collins had as a nose tackle against Georgia Tech last year in Atlanta and decided, “Why not?”

Collins, who has started at defensive end all season long and captured ACC defensive lineman of the week honors at that position for his game-changing performance in the win over Maryland, was switched to nose tackle for Saturday’s Georgia Tech game.

“It’s something we did last year against Georgia Tech and Coach Groh thought it would give us some favorable looks,” Collins said. “The point is to get me matched up with their center. It was successful at points, but not enough to get the win.”

The strategy paid dividends in terms of production even though Virginia dropped a 34-9 decision to the visiting Yellow Jackets. Collins’ performance could result in a second consecutive conference recognition, but the only thing that mattered to the 290-pound defender after the game was that the Cavaliers lost a big game.

Asked why he made the switch, Groh referred back to last year’s game, which also garnered Collins the defensive player of the week honors.

“It made good sense to put him back where he played last year in this game and clearly he confirmed that in his performance,” Groh said. “It looked like he made about 100 tackles today. Frankly, I would have been questioning myself if the game was over and we hadn’t played him at nose tackle. We put him there to take advantage of what he did last year and he probably made more plays today than he did last year.”

In fact, Collins made a career-high 16 tackles against the Yellow Jackets, including 10 solo stops and two tackles for loss. That’s more than double his count against Georgia Tech last season when he made six tackles — all solos — which represented his career-high until he made nine stops in last Saturday’s win over Maryland.

Still, informed of his feat, Collins remained the only person unimpressed.

“That’s good,” the big lineman said without any enthusiasm. “We lost, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Collins, who broke open last week’s game at Maryland with a 32-yard interception return from his defensive end position and scored his first collegiate touchdown, said he was comfortable in going back to his old position.

While Virginia’s defense, ranked among the top 25 defenses in the country, contained Georgia Tech’s triple option attack for most of the first half, the Yellow Jackets rode roughshod over the Cavaliers in the second.

“You’ve got to stay in your gap,” Collins said of playing against Tech’s running game. “They’re a great group of guys. They’ve got hard runners and a quarterback who is one of the toughest guys we’ve played against this year, other than our quarterback. They run that offense well and that’s why they’re in the position they are right now.”