From the time she strapped on her first pair of shin guards at age 5, BYU keeper Paiton Collins knew soccer was her passion.
Always one of the tallest players on her recreational and club teams, she was often put at goalkeeper and she loved it. Collins balanced basketball alongside soccer for years before eventually deciding to focus on the sport she couldn’t imagine living without.
Her commitment to the game pushed her family to move so she could play for a high school coach she admired and her performance at the club level began to draw attention.
By her senior year, Collins had several offers, including one from her dream school, the University of Arizona. With the support of her mom, who always encouraged her soccer goals, Collins was on track to compete on a big stage.
But life took a turn. Distance and personal challenges pushed her away from the game. She told friends and family she was burned out and decided to step back, enrolling at Utah Valley University as a business student while working.
One day, while waiting for class to start at UVU, Collins sat outside feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about the path she wanted to take. She wasn’t where she wanted to be in her college experience, and something just didn’t feel right. She even began looking into hair school, a path her mom didn’t support. It was an extremely confusing time for Collins. Though she had never grown up particularly religious, she turned to God for direction, asking for guidance.
Her answer came unexpectedly. Just as she began applying to hair schools, she received a text from her former club coach asking if she was still interested in playing college soccer. The question stunned her. Distance was still her biggest concern, but he reassured her she could stay close to home, but he couldn’t yet share which school the opportunity would be with.
Assuming it was UVU, Collins put together film from her club and high school years and reached out to the Wolverines’ staff. Their coaches responded quickly and were ready to bring her in for a physical within weeks. Excited, she called her club coach to share the news. He was thrilled for her but explained that the school he was referring to wasn’t UVU, it was BYU.
The interest from BYU shocked her. Collins never thought a program like BYU would have her on their radar. Still, she sent in her film and shortly after connected with the Cougar staff. She met with assistant coach Brent Anderson the same day she was scheduled to finalize things with UVU, but BYU asked her to hold off while the program made its decision.
After several days of pushing back meetings with UVU and waiting on BYU’s response, Collins finally told the Cougars she needed an answer. If they didn’t want her, she was ready to commit to UVU. That’s when BYU told her it wanted her to meet with longtime head coach Jennifer Rockwood.
As Collins was leaving her house for the meeting, her phone rang. It was the UVU coach urging her to commit before going over to BYU. The timing felt surreal, but she still went to Provo that evening. Collins sat with her mom on one side and her dad on the other as Rockwood offered her both a scholarship and a roster spot.
“I couldn’t even look over,” Collins said. “But I could hear my dad to the left of me just crying.”
The moment was surreal for the Collins family and felt like confirmation that God had reopened a door she once thought was closed.
Though she is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Collins has embraced her role at BYU, calling it one of the biggest blessings of her life.
“Growing up I never had thoughts of being at BYU,” she said. “But now it’s the best thing ever.”
Her path to the field wasn’t immediate. Collins didn’t play her first season despite her hard work and determination. She knew the goalkeeper spot was secured by another player going into the 2025 season, but she still wanted to meet with Rockwood to discuss her future.
Collins left that meeting disappointed, especially because her improvement and effort had been recognized but the opportunity still felt out of reach. She began to consider entering the transfer portal if she didn’t see playing time in the fall.
Just a week later, still feeling down about the situation, her prayers were answered again. BYU’s starting goalie, Lynette Hernaez Bryant, unexpectedly retired, and suddenly the spot Collins had worked for her entire life was open for competition.
“I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. I’d been working all summer. At that moment, I was so ready,” she said.
Collins seized the chance and earned the starting spot. In 2025, she made history as the first Cougar to earn Big 12 Goalkeeper of the Week honors twice in one season.
She explained her love for playing keeper as a kid and it mirrors her journey to becoming BYU’s starter.
“If our team went to a PK shootout and then we won, that was always so fun,” she said. “But there were for sure a lot of lows with it too. I just had to learn how to navigate through that and be okay with the losses and know it’s not all you. That was a big part of it.”
Now, Collins radiates confidence between the posts as she defends BYU and continues her resilient, faithful and fierce path.