Tag: Nico Collins

2019 Season Countdown: #7 Nico Collins

Name: Nico Collins
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 222 lbs.
High school: Birmingham (AL) Clay-Chalkville
Position: Wide receiver
Class: Junior
Jersey number: #4
Last year: I ranked Collins #34 and said he would be a backup wide receiver with 15 catches for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns (LINK). He started eleven games and made 38 catches for 632 yards and 6 touchdowns.
TTB Rating: 85

Collins had a huge breakout season in 2018. Coming out of a spring where Tarik Black was reported to be the most outstanding receiver on the team, I expected Collins to take a back seat to Black and Donovan Peoples-Jones. Instead, Collins turned out to be a huge factor in the passing game. He was #1 on the team in receiving yards (632), #2 in receptions (38), #2 in receiving touchdowns (6), and #1 in yards per catch (16.6) out of players who caught 10+ passes.

Collins isn’t a big catch-and-run guy, but he’s a downfield threat because he has decent straight-line speed and great size to box out defensive backs. He’s Devin Funchess without the drops and with a better work ethic. Buzz about Black has fizzled since his latest broken foot, but some have been suggesting that Collins has been the best player on the team during spring and fall camp. I expect him to continue to ascend and get more of a chance to show what he can do in Michigan’s new offense.

Prediction: Starting wide receiver; 60 catches for 990 yards and 10 touchdowns

Morning Roundup: July 2, 2019

247 Sports looks at college football’s ten most underrated players, and Nico Collins made the list (LINK).

Shea Patterson made the most of his year at Michigan by making a lot of #bigtimethrows. pic.twitter.com/sEqYlompvL

— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 28, 2019

Hit the jump for more.

2019 Spring Practice Roundup

You can follow TTB on Twitter here (LINK).

Jim Harbaugh met with the media Monday, after Michigan’s first spring practice.

Here are a few updates on players and positions:

Nightly Roundup: February 18, 2019

Here’s an Aaron McMann fluff piece on Nico Collins (LINK).

The Michigan spring game will be April 13 (LINK).

Review of 2018 Season Predictions

Nico Collins (image via MGoBlue)

I always like to look back at my predictions for the previous season to see how well I judged the year beforehand. Here’s the link to my 2018 Season Predictions (and the comments): LINK.

LEADING RUSHER
Prediction: Karan Higdon, 1100 yards
Actual: Higdon, 1178 yards
Thoughts: Higdon was about as effective as I thought he would be, although he would have ended up with more yardage if he didn’t miss one regular season game (due to injury) and then the bowl game (due to selfishness). I was surprised he was named First Team All-Big Ten, but there were some other backs in the conference who were not as effective as I thought they would be.

LEADING RECEIVER
Prediction: Donovan Peoples-Jones, 750 yards
Actual: Nico Collins, 632 yards
Thoughts: Collins had a breakout season, going from 3 catches for 27 yards in 2017 to leading the team in receiving yardage (and being #2 in receptions) in 2018. Peoples-Jones was just behind Collins by a mere 20 yards and led the team in receptions (47), but Collins was the big downfield target.

LEADING TACKLER
Prediction: Devin Bush, Jr., 95 tackles
Actual: Bush, 79 tackles
Thoughts: As the middle linebacker, Bush was an obvious choice, but his instincts and sideline-to-sideline speed ensured that he would make plays all over the field. Safety Tyree Kinnel was not far behind with 74 tackles in one more game, since Bush missed the bowl game.

Hit the jump for the rest of the review.

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