Alex Collins

Alex Collins (August 26, 1994 – August 13, 2023) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL).

Alex Collins was born on August 26, 1994, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

He attended South Plantation High School in Fort Lauderdale where he was a letterman in football, basketball, lacrosse, and track.

He was coached by Doug Gatewood.

He was named Broward County Player of the Year as a junior after rushing for 1,786 yards and 28 touchdowns as the Paladins earned seven victories and qualified for the state playoffs.

As a senior, he rushed for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns despite missing three games due to injury, helping South Plantation to nine wins, the district title and a berth in the 8A state playoffs.

Following his senior season, he was selected to play in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl, where he was teammates with fellow Arkansas signee Austin Allen.

Also a talented sprinter, Collins ran the third leg on South Plantation's state-champion 4 × 100 m relay (41.98 s), leading to him being named the 2013 Broward County Male Athlete of the Year.

Collins was ranked as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and the 13th best running back in his class.

Collins committed to play college football at the University of Arkansas in February 2013.

On signing day, Collins's mother provided some momentary drama, when she refused to sign the National Letter of Intent (LOI) for him to attend school at Arkansas, and then ran away with the LOI.

She wanted Collins to stay close to home and attend the University of Miami.

The drama ended the next day when Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema faxed another LOI to Collins, which was signed by his father.

Collins played for the University of Arkansas from 2013 to 2015.

He started his career as the first true freshman in Southeastern Conference (SEC) history to rush for 300 yards in his first three games.

Splitting time with Jonathan Williams, he finished the year with 1,026 rushing yards on 190 carries with four touchdowns.

For his play he was named the 2013 SEC Freshman of the Year.

In his sophomore season in 2014, Collins ran for 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns on 204 carries, while still splitting time with Williams.

He also helped lead Arkansas to a Texas Bowl victory over the Texas Longhorns.

Williams went down with an injury before the 2015 season, so Collins became the featured back in Bret Bielema's offense.

He started every game his junior year, and on November 7, 2015, with 108 yards against Ole Miss, Collins became only the third player in SEC history to rush for 1,000 plus yards in three seasons, joining Herschel Walker and Darren McFadden.

Collins finished his junior season with a career-high 1,577 yards, and a school-record 20 rushing touchdowns.

He was named second-team all-SEC, mostly because Alabama's Derrick Henry and LSU's Leonard Fournette outrushed him and were All-Americans.

He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft with the 171st overall pick.

Collins led Arkansas to a Liberty Bowl victory over Kansas State on January 2, 2016.

He finished the 45–23 victory with 185 yards and three rushing touchdowns, earning MVP honors.

Collins is second on the Razorback career rushing yards list (3,703), behind only Darren McFadden (4,590).

On January 10, 2016, Collins penned an open letter to Arkansas fans announcing his intention to forgo his senior season and enter the 2016 NFL Draft.

He was projected to be third round pick and was ranked the third best running back by CBSSports.com prior to the combine.

He attended the NFL Combine and completed nearly all of the required drills, but chose to not perform the short shuttle or three-cone drill due to a headache.

His combine performance was described as underwhelming and mediocre.

On March 16, 2016, Collins opted to participate at Arkansas' pro day along with teammates Hunter Henry, Brandon Allen, Jonathan Williams, Denver Kirkland, Mitchell Loewen, Sebastian Tretola, and five others.

He performed positional drills and added four inches to his vertical, finishing with a 32½.

On April 12, 2016, it was reported that Collins had a pre-draft visit with representatives from the Miami Dolphins.

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Collins was projected to be a third or fourth round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and analysts.

He was ranked the fifth best running back in the draft by Sports Illustrated and Pro Football Focus.

Collins was also ranked the tenth best running back by NFLDraftScout.com.

The Seattle Seahawks selected Collins in the fifth round (171st overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft.

He spent two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens in 2017 and 2018 before re-signing by Seattle in 2020.

He played one season with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL).