What To Know About Cardinals 1st Round Pick Zaven Collins

PHOENIX, AZ — The Arizona Cardinals used their lone pick in Thursday's first round of the 2021 NFL Draft to select Tulsa University linebacker Zaven Collins.

In the process, Collins became the first Golden Hurricanes player to be selected in the draft's first round since Steve August in 1977 and just the third Tulsa alum to be drafted in the opening round.

Collins excelled during his time at Tulsa, winning the 2020 Chuck Bednarik Award, given out to the best college defensive player of the year by the Maxwell Football Club each fall.

Collins also won the 2020 Lombardi Award, awarded to the player that shows the most character, leadership and resiliency on the field by the Rotary Club of Houston.

Here are some other items to know about the newest member of the Arizona Cardinals:

He was a heck of a high school quarterback: Collins was a two-way star during his high school days at Hominy High School in Oklahoma, accumulating more than 7,000 offensive yards and scoring 86 touchdowns as a quarterback for his high school team, per The Oklahoman.

Once he got to Tulsa, he thrived: Collins' only Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship offer came from Tulsa, who signed the three-star linebacker to its 2017 class. Once Collins arrived in Tulsa, he had an almost immediate impact, finishing his redshirt freshman season in 2018 with 85 tackles, 1.5 sacks and an interception. From there, Collins racked up 151 tackles over his final two seasons, including a career-high 97 in 12 games in 2019. He pulled down a career-high four interceptions in eight games in 2020, scoring two touchdowns. It's safe to say that Collins has lived up to the modest billing he received entering college four years ago.

He was his high school class valedictorian: Collins excelled in the classroom as well as the gridiron during his high school days in Hominy, as he was his class valedictorian, according to The Oklahoman's Jacob Unruh. “Everything was perfect,” Zaven told Unruh. “I kinda told some of those people to piss off.”

He might be a steal of a draft pick for the Cardinals: Collins was ranked as the 13th-best player in the NFL Draft class by Pro Football Network's Tony Pauline, who said Collins might be a game-changer for the Cardinals' defense. "Collins is a game-impacting defender and one of the more understated prospects in this year’s draft. He’s not the small run-and-chase linebacker teams prefer these days," Pauline writes. "Rather, he’s a throwback of sorts, and possesses the size as well as speed to be a pass rusher as well as play in coverage. Collins is a true three-down defender who should quickly break into a starting lineup and comes with outstanding scheme versatility." If Collins can live up to that billing, then the Cardinals will likely be thrilled with their choice on Thursday night.