New Lions receiver lets his play do the talking
With concussions behind him, former Colt has found a spot in CFL
Into his second month with the B.C. Lions, former NFL receiver Austin Collie remains something of a mystery, hiding behind a face that speaks of grim determination and a policy of never opening up to a notebook or a microphone.
He may be kind to children, autograph seekers and colleagues, but for reporters, there is a problem.
Collie doesn’t want to talk much. It’s left for others to talk for him.
“Ultimately, he’s an ultracompetitive guy,” says John Beck, the former NFL and BYU quarterback who recruited Collie for the Lions. “With his past history of being with elite quarterbacks (Peyton Manning and Tom Brady among them), I knew one of the things he excelled at was being where the quarterback wanted him to be. That’s why I know he has room for improvement, getting used to the angles and depth of the Canadian field. Everybody who plays this game is a competitive person. But I think Austin is one of those guys who has a little bit extra. I think he believes in himself a lot. And he demands a lot of himself. He’s always striving to be what he thinks he can be.”
A man of ordered habits, personal fastidiousness and continual experimentation, Collie merits recognition as an athlete committed to his craft beyond the usual standards. Even at practice, when his position group is not on the field, there is no down time. Collie is off to the side, stretching a body part, working on his pass routes, tossing a football, seeking input from Chris Boyko, the strength and conditioning coach. His locker stall at the team’s training facility is a depository of Rube Goldberg devices for self-improvement.
“I think he’s a guy who recognizes that all the small, little things can add up to making him a better player,” quarterback Travis Lulay says. “He puts a lot of time into caring for his body. He has different contraptions that loosen up muscles. You see him doing a lot of that extra stretching. To me, that says this guy is something of a perfectionist. He’s a very competitive dude. He hates losing a one-on-one rep (in practice).
Like many accomplished football players, Collie is such a graceful athlete that, to unknowing observers, it looks as if his gifts came naturally. To some degree. But obsessiveness has just as much to do with it, head coach Jeff Tedford notes.
“I would call him atypical. I don’t think he’s a typical football player at all,” Tedford says. “He works at it, he really does. He’s always out there stretching, doing something, working with his gizmos in the lockerroom. He doesn’t waste a moment. He’s really into how his body feels, how his shoes feel.”
Collie’s wariness with quote seekers or microphone wielders began after a series of concussions and a torn patellar tendon interrupted and derailed an NFL career that began with great promise: 118 receptions and 15 touchdowns in 25 games as a reliable target for Manning, when both were members of the Indianapolis Colts.
Newspaper columnists have urged him to retire. NFL general managers have turned him away. But Collie, who became a poster boy for the concussion issue (articles on the receiver frequently are accompanied by a photo of Collie, laid out on the turf ), insists he is a grown man, capable of making his own decisions about his health and future.
He is both a client and an endorser of Cognitive FX, a concussion rehabilitation and research clinic based in Provo, Utah (“to make sure the head’s right and still functioning properly,” Collie stated in an interview with the Provo Daily Herald) and his brother-in-law Jordan Pendleton’s personal training business in South Jordan, Utah.
In the Beehive State, where he played for three starry seasons at BYU, Collie’s comeback is being followed with consuming interest.
“He is the best wide receiver in BYU history,” says Ben Criddle, a former defensive back who cohosts an ESPN 960 radio show. “Most BYU fans believe, had he stayed healthy, he had the potential to be an All-Pro NFL wideout. This comeback has to do with the buzz. But it’s also because of fan loyalty to the Cougars and what Austin accomplished in his career, both at BYU and in the NFL. Austin has tremendous potential. B.C. Lion fans have only seen a glimpse of what he can do when given more targets.”
His decision to re-start his career in Canada, however, again thrust Collie into the glare of the unwanted publicity and trappings of athletic celebrity — the media banter, the invasion of his privacy — he so shuns.