Knights DB Collier wants more elite plays
UCF safety Antwan Collier didn’t waste much time before making his presence felt during the Knights’ season opener at Connecticut last Thursday.
The true sophomore racked up nine tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss, all in the first half. For a player making his first collegiate start, you would think that Collier would be pleased with that debut. Not so much.
“I’ll grade it about a C-plus,” he said, “because I missed a lot of tackles. I missed five in that first half. With them five, I could have probably made player-of-theweek.
“I dropped an interception in the last game, too, that I wish I would have come up with.”
Knights fans can probably overlook that missed opportunity since Collier has already recorded one of the most important turnovers in program history. His interception during the final minute of the Peach Bowl sealed UCF’s win over Auburn.
“I saw the quarterback eyeing the receiver down, but the receiver didn’t run the route that [the QB] was thinking he was going to run,” Collier said Wednesday about the Peach Bowl play he simply labels a “good moment.”
“He just lobbed it up, and I just went over the top and got it.”
That set in motion what Collier called a “crazy” summer as he was bombarded with texts and social-media mentions about the interception throughout the offseason. He admitted that it was a lot to deal with, but he said he never grew tired of fielding the comments because “it’s from fans.”
Still, now about 250 days and 450 miles removed from that seminal moment in Atlanta, Collier is not resting on his laurels.
“I’ve got to move on. It’s a new year. That’s the past,” he said. “I’m trying to focus on this year and what I can do to help the team this year.”
To that end, Collier has seemingly improved in myriad ways in his second season. He singled out that his hips are now stronger and more fluid.
Secondary coach Willie Martinez remarked that Collier was a quick study with the Knights’ new defense and praised his onfield communication during Thursday’s win.
Senior safety Kyle Gibson said Collier has upped his attention to detail.
Senior defensive lineman Titus Davis said you can often find Collier staying late at team headquarters to look at film.
“He’s a baller, man,” Davis added.
Collier replaced Gibson in UCF’s starting lineup Thursday because the senior was suspended for the first half due to a targeting penalty during the Peach Bowl.
However, Gibson didn’t need to pass any wisdom
onto Collier prior to kickoff at UConn because, Gibson said, “I kind of saw it in his face; he had himself prepared.”
That preparation turned what can be a deer-in-theheadlights experience for some first-time starters into just another night on the football field for Collier.
“I just played it like it was a regular, normal game, like high school,” he said. “Just go out there and play. You shouldn’t have opening jitters; that’s when you mess up with little mental mistakes that can happen.”
It also helps that Collier, as a true freshman, proved he doesn’t wilt under the lights on one of college football’s brightest stages.
He knows that no matter what the future holds for him at UCF, his role as the player whose interception ended the Peach Bowl will be a big part of his Knight legacy. He likes that.
However, Collier also said this week that there is something else he wants to be remembered as: “A team player.”