(image via Pinterest)
(image via NFLplayerengagement.com)
In addition to interviews, I’m going to write “throwback” columns about some Michigan players and games from the past. Hopefully I can add some new information to your Michigan memories. Today’s column features a look back at quarterback Todd Collins.
I have a childhood memory of flipping through the MDen catalog after my dad told me I could pick out one item. This was back in the days before the NCAA worried itself too much about “player likeness” issues, and the University of Michigan was selling two jerseys: #6, for Tyrone Wheatley, and #10, for Todd Collins. On Christmas day, I unwrapped #10, and my brother unwrapped #6. Receiving a Christmas day jersey would become a tradition in my family, and although many jerseys have come and gone, I still have my #10 jersey. I barely knew anything about Todd Collins at the time, but would learn a lot.
The Boston-area is not what you would call a college sports Mecca. Boston sports fans routinely sell-out Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park, and the TD BankNorth Garden, and sometimes do so seasons in advance. That said, you can usually purchase tickets to Boston College games on the day of the contest (except when they play “away” games vs. Notre Dame…in Fenway Park). Very few Boston-area athletes get much praise for what they do on the college level, but Collins is an exception, and is a bit of a local legend. He graduated from Walpole High School (MA) in 1990. Walpole is a medium-sized, somewhat blue-collar suburb located about a half-hour drive from downtown Boston.
To say that Collins was extremely talented as a high school athlete is to sell him short. Collins excelled in baseball, football, and basketball, and was a college-level prospect in all three sports. During his junior year, he recorded a 10-0 record as a pitcher, and led the Walpole basketball team to the state final-four. He averaged a double-double.
He led the Walpole basketball team up against future state champions Duxbury in a losing effort. Collins played rugged defense (and gave up quite a few inches) to Duxbury’s 6’9” center Billy Curley who was a McDonald’s All-American and would go on to play in the NBA. I found some video of the game online, and have linked it below. Collins is #10 in red, and Curley is #15 in white. Collins, a post player, scores his first two points of the game at the 2:00 minute mark in the video.
The future Wolverine also showed off his trademark toughness on the football field, leading the Walpole Rebels to the 1989 state title game. A broken foot hobbled Collins in that game, but he still lead Walpole past the powerhouse Brockton Boxers by the bizarre final score of 6-2. This win pushed the Walpole Rebels up to #15 on the USA Today’s Top 25 National Football Rankings. At this point, Collins had already committed to the Wolverines.
At Michigan, Collins would continue the trend of NFL-caliber passers that was started, in part, by Jim Harbaugh and Elvis Grbac. While Collins had to wait three seasons to start, he finally earned the keys to the offense as a redshirt junior. Although he posted a mediocre 8-4 record during both of his final seasons at Michigan, Collins did beat a very talented Ohio State squad 28-0. He is still the Michigan career leader in completion percentage, at just over 64%. This mark is the second best all-time by any Big-10 passer. Collins was picked by the Buffalo Bills in the second round of the 1995 NFL Draft. While Tom Brady made the #10 at Michigan more famous, Collins helped blaze the trail for pro-style passers like Griese, Brady, Henson, and more.
Collins went on to play for 16 years in the NFL, mostly as a backup, before hanging up the cleats in 2010. Now he coaches offense at his high school alma-mater. Joe Gibbs called Collins, “the smartest player I ever coached.”
In a time when more and more high school athletes are specializing in just one sport, it is cool to remember a throwback athlete like Todd Collins. He was an undefeated pitcher, a high school basketball player capable of giving McDonald’s All-Americans their toughest test of the year, and a state-champion quarterback.
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Great stuff, Michael. I had no idea Collins was such an accomplished athlete. This is one reason why I only took my “all-time QB rankings” back to 1995.
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Thanks! Actually your QB Ranking column gave me some inspiration to take a closer look at Collins. He’s a bit of an enigma. He has some great stats (64% passing with 8.2 yards/att at Michigan), and some less compelling ones (13td/10int as a senior). He didn’t improve much from his junior to senior year, and lost a combined 8 games between the two seasons, but was still the 3rd QB picked in the ’95 draft (behind Steve McNair and Kerry Collins, but ahead of Kordell Stewart). I remember him playing for Michigan, but I wasn’t old enough to have any opinion about his actual ability, so I wanted to round out my knowledge a bit. That research led to this column.
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Very good read, well done. I’ll remember Collins fir his NFL days: I’d find him on a roster for years, and think “Jeez, he’s still there”
It was great to follow a UM QB for so long, and it spoke to his commitment and teams’ belief that he still had a little left
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Agreed, re: his longevity. He sat behind some really talented QBs (Jim Kelly in Buffalo, and Elvis Grbac, Warren Moon, and Trent Green in KC), so it is difficult to say how he would have been as a full time starter. I feel like so much of someone’s success in sports is a combination of preparation, timing, and luck. To an outsider, Collins seemed constantly prepared, but the timing never really worked out.
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Thank you Mike. I think I learned more about Collins in a few minutes here than I ever knew about him when he was active at Michigan and certainly before in the Boston area.
As I recall those years we were in a time (to me) of a mediocre team, but with exceptionable individuals like Stanley, Law, Wheatley, Morrison and Toomer etc. I could not believe we had about the same record as Indiana and Illinois. The Colorado game literally sucked the air out of the Moose Lodge. But, we took pride where we could. Our bowl streak was intact and there was always next year for the blue faithful.
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GKBlue: Thanks for the kind words. I agree with you regarding the talented players. We had more than a few guys on those ’93-’94 teams go on to have some success on the NFL level. I’d add Jay Riemersma to your list above (graduated in ’95). I’d say the highlight over those two season would be the win over #5 Ohio State, or maybe the bowl game “upset” over #10 Colorado State to close the ’94 season.
As far as the mediocre results, 8-4 will always be below the standard at Michigan. Those teams seem a little snake-bit to me; 5 of the 8 losses over those two seasons were by one possession. Makes you wonder what could have been if they’d been able to pull out a few of those games.
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