Best advice is to be confident in yourself. Don't be afraid of of awkwardness as that can happen to a lot of people.
Communication and making new friends is a skill and some are inherently good at the skill while some need to work on it.
In this case all you need is to be more confident and find people with common interests and people who value your opinion. Let your opinion be heard at college. Keep practicing the skill of communicating and you'll get better at it each day, yes there may be times of awkward situations but that's life. I personally watch and play football and that has greatly helped me with starting conversations with random people, so have some things in your arsenal. You don't need every single person in college to know you or be your friend. You only need a handful of great friends. All the best of luck!!