Lovejoy DB Chief Collins is a Red Raider
The Texas Tech coaches have added a preferred walk on athlete to the 2021 class. Lovejoy athlete Chief Collins plays both wide receiver and safety, and announced his commitment to Texas Tech on Wednesday morning.
The son of former Texas Tech football player in the early 90's Chad Collins, Chief committed to TTU just a day after announcing his preferred walk on offer.
What you need to know...
... Along with his PWO offer from Tech, Chief held full scholarship offers from Southwestern University, Eastern New Mexico, Hendrix College, Southwest Baptist University and Western New Mexico
... As a senior, Chief was credited with 105 tackles, seven interceptions, three defensive touchdowns, seven pass breakups, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries
Texas Tech staff: "Yeah so really it started back when I was a sophomore I want to say. Maybe freshman. My older brother (Carson Collins) was actually recruited by coach Sonny Cumbie when he was at TCU. So I got to meet him then and earlier this March, right before COVID hit I ended up going on a visit to Tech and met coach Wells. It was a really cool experience getting to know him and everyone there.
Then around three weeks ago I started getting more communication with coach (Preston) Pehrson the recruiting coordinator, coach Cumbie and also coach Luke Wells. Since then it'd kinda taken off and then last night I got a call from coach Cumbie saying he wanted to offer me a preferred walk on spot which is amazing. I'm still in shock about it."
Fit at the next level: "I really don't have a favorite between receiver or safety, I love both. If I could pick both I would. As a junior I played receiver the whole season and then my senior year I ended up switching over to safety because that's where my team needed me. I think that's a really good thing I can do is play both sides of the ball and be fine. I can play both equally as well."
Reaction to Tech offer: "Like I said I'm still in shock. It's honestly been my dream school my entire life. I grew up going to Lubbock, going to watch games. My dad, that's his alma mater. When I told him he started crying he was so excited. I'm beyond blessed to be able to have this opportunity."
Connections to Texas Tech: "I have a good friend Beau Iovinelli, he's a walk on. Got hurt last summer but he's on the team. He's there right now."
Senior season at Lovejoy: "Around February is when our previous coach ended up spilling the news that he would be leaving along with basically the entire staff. So our whole offseason got flipped upside down with the whole getting a new staff and everything. We ended up getting coach Chris Ross and his staff and he ended up changing our whole program. Everything that he did we bought into everything he said, we just believed.
Starting June 8th is when we started football practice and workouts and we all bought in. It was a really cool experience, even with COVID and everything, we were blessed enough to not have any missed games or really quarantine throughout the whole season which was a huge blessing.
We ended up going all the way to the fourth round of the playoffs before losing to the state champs Aledo. That obviously hurt but it was a heck of a season and it was unforgettable."