A Connecticut state record-holding gunslinger will soon be joining Sonny Cumbie’s quarterback room as Michael Collins is transferring from the University of Pennsylvania to TCU.
After just one season with the Quakers, the sophomore-to-be will be leaving the east coast and heading to Fort Worth within the next week; a decision Collins’ former high school coach Lou Marinelli considered “crazy.”
“When he first told me, I told him he was crazy,” Marinelli told the New Canaan News. “They insinuated he was going to be the guy at Penn. If he didn’t get hurt, he’d be a 30-game starter in the Ivy’s; if you were going to go to the NFL or beyond, you can do it from there, but I think he wanted more of a football experience.”
A three-time state champion at New Canaan High School, where Collins’ set a new state record by tossing 54 touchdown passes as a senior, the former high school star did, in fact, seek more of a football experience, which he considered playing in the FBS and against higher competition.
“I didn’t want to look back and say, ‘what if I had played at the FBS level?’” Collins said. “That was really it, I wanted more of a football experience than I was getting at Penn and a chance to play against the best competition possible.”
After sitting out during the 2017 season due to transfer rules, Collins will be tasked with battling former four-star recruit and early enrollee freshman quarterback Shawn Robinson.
“I knew I was going to have to compete wherever I went, and at Penn I would be able to probably start,” Collins said. “But I could have gotten injured there and my football career would have been over, so I at least wanted to say I took the chance. If I end up sitting behind somebody so be it, at least I went for it.”
If Collins does ultimately earn playing time at TCU, he’ll be protected by former New Canaan teammate and starting right tackle Lucas Niang.
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