Can Jalen Collins be a shutdown corner?

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During this fall camp, Jalen Collins made plays that would make any defensive back proud.

Maybe he deflected a pass, got an interception or made a touchdown-saving tackle.

Either way, the LSU cornerback always thought the same: “Wow, I don’t know what happened last year.”

“Looking back on last year and looking now,” Collins said, “I could have been doing this all of the time. Just didn’t have my mind right.”

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He proved enough in these last four weeks.

“He’s a guy who’s playing with a chip on his shoulder,” receiver Travin Dural said. “He had two freshmen come in and take his job.”

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He’s returned there by refocusing himself, Collins said.

To understand that, one must understand Collins. He’s never absent of a smile. Even when discussing the lows of 2013, Collins has a sweeping grin.

He’s happy go lucky. He’s a jokester. He’s an affable character who’s never too serious.

That was part of the problem last year, he said. His focus on each play waned through the game.

“It’s tough, but you just have to remember what you’re out there for,” he said. “You’re not out there to say, ‘OK, I did good these couple of plays. Now I get to chill.’ I got to go hard every play for my team.”

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It’s been happening at least in practice, players say.

White used the word “great” three times in one sentence to describe Collins’ fall camp.

Dural notices a more serious tone. Collins isn’t goofing off half of the time at practice. He’s no more a distraction to himself and his teammates.

“He’s focused the whole two, three hours. He’s not joking around. He’s trying to make plays,” Dural said. “When he slips up, he takes it out on himself pretty hard.”

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The future’s bright – if the focus is right.

“You don’t see too many 6-2, 205 pound cornerbacks who can run,” linebacker Lamar Louis said. “He had a good freshman season. Sophomore (had) some bumps. We go through that. I even went through that. I see him having one of those breakout seasons. I see him being drafted pretty high whenever he makes that decision.”

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Give him a shot before we crucify him.

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