Loss of ‘bright spirit’ hits Ravens hard
Former running back killed in motorcycle crash in Florida
Marlon Humphrey struggled to make sense of how a man one year his elder, who sprinted through special teams drills by his side, was suddenly gone.
“Life is really real; you never think about a guy that was just in the league … that life could end so soon,” Humphrey said, processing the death of former Ravens running back Alex Collins. “He was a funny teammate. He made everybody laugh.
I just want to encourage everyone who’s listening to tell your people you love them. You truly never know.”
Collins died in a motorcycle crash Sunday night in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, 13 days short of his 29th birthday.
“A.C., that was my boy; he was from Broward County too,” Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “He was here my rookie year, and we was always chatting, playing around and stuff like that in the locker room. Great energy, great guy to be around. I’m just sorry for the loss, especially to his family.”
Tight end Mark Andrews offered his condolences as well. “I have a ton of great memories of Alex Collins,” he said. “He was a bright spirit, someone that was always happy, having fun — a great guy to have in the locker room. I’m deeply saddened by what happened.”
The crash occurred at about 10:20 p.m. Sunday near the 3300 block of West Oakland Park Boulevard in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, according to a news release from the Broward County Sheriff ’s Office.
The preliminary investigation showed that Collins, a Fort Lauderdale native, was traveling east on a 2004 Suzuki GSX-R600K motorcycle on West Oakland Park Boulevard approaching Northwest 33rd Avenue. At the same time, a woman was traveling west in a 2002 Chevrolet Suburban SUV on West Oakland Park Boulevard.
According to investigators, at some point, the Chevrolet driver turned left to travel south onto Northwest 33rd Avenue. As the
car crossed the eastbound lanes, the motorcycle struck the rear passenger side of the SUV. The impact caused Collins to enter the rear passenger side window of the Chevrolet and come to a stop inside the car. The collision also caused the Chevrolet to rotate clockwise before resting.
BSO deputies responded, and Collins was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the SUV remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, police said.
Circumstances surrounding the crash remain under investigation, according to the news release.
Collins was drafted out of Arkansas by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round in 2016 and played for them as a rookie, then was released the following September. He was signed two days later to the Ravens’ practice squad and needed just a week to push his way into the team’s game plan. Collins led the Ravens with 82 rushing yards in the third game of the season and finished with 973 for the year on 212 carries, winning fans with his hard-charging style on the field and his brilliant smile — accompanied by an Irish dance if you were lucky — off it.
In 2018, Collins started 10 games, rushing 114 times for 411 yards, before being placed on injured reserve with a foot injury in early December.
The Ravens released Collins before the 2019 season after he was arrested following a car crash near the team’s training facility in Owings Mills. In October 2019 Collins pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of possession of more than 10 grams of marijuana and possession of a handgun in a vehicle. He was ordered to serve 18 months of unsupervised probation.
Collins rejoined the Seahawks and played for them in 2020 and 2021. He played this year for the Memphis Showboats of the U.S. Football League.
“It was kind of crazy, his journey,” Humphrey said. “He was on the practice squad, and we were both running down on scout kickoff [drills] and you fast-forward however many weeks later and he was about to have like 1,000 yards rushing. A lot of times, a practice squad guy might not think he’s going to be the starting running back in the same season. But to see that journey for him, it was like you really can start slow and end up where you want to be. … It can happen.”
Coach John Harbaugh remembered Collins’ irrepressible energy and his passion for Irish dance, which the running back studied — he dubbed himself “Mitch Finn” in that realm — and translated into his touchdown celebrations.
“With the Irish dance, some people might make fun of me. Or listening to country music and being out there at the concerts, it might not be where people expect to see me,” the media-shy running back said in a 2017 interview. “But I enjoy it, experiencing new cultures. I’m just always chasing new experiences. Just the thought and possibility of, ‘Could I be able to do it?’ is enough to make me want to see if I could be great at something.”
This open spirit endeared him to those who knew him in Baltimore.
“From the bottom of our hearts as an organization — every player, every coach, Steve [Bisciotti] — we wish that family our utmost, heartfelt condolences,” Harbaugh said. “We loved having him here.”