A standout senior season helped Corbin Collins rediscover his love for football, and now he's going to try and extend his career four more years.
Collins -- a senior offensive and defensive lineman for Siloam Springs -- signed a letter of intent Wednesday to walk on for the Pittsburg (Kan.) State football team in Pittsburg, Kan.
Collins, who helped lead Siloam Springs to a 5-6 record in 2018 and the Panthers' first playoff appearance since 2014, said it was the arrival of head coach Brandon Craig who helped re-ignite his spark for the game.
"After junior year, after I hurt my knee really bad, I really didn't think about football at all," Collins said. "Then Coach Craig came in and pretty much changed everything for me. He got my love back for football and now I'm going to play four more years."
Collins wound up starting every game for the Panthers on the offensive line and played multiple positions up front. He also came in on the defensive line from time to time.
A 6A-West all-conference honorable mention selection as a sophomore and all-conference as a junior, Collins earned all-state honors as a senior in 2018.
Craig said at Collins' signing that his star lineman had scholarship offers to play college football elsewhere.
Collins confirmed that he chose Pittsburg State as a school because of the construction management program.
"That's the career I want to go into," Collins said.
Collins first visited the school last summer when the Panthers went there for a team camp. He went back in November and toured the construction management program and just recently went back for a football visit with the Gorillas, who went 8-3 in 2018.
"They showed me their locker room, weight room, all their weight-lifting stuff," Collins said. "That stuff is incredible."
He hopes that the walk-on title is only temporary. He said Pitt State wants to look at him on both offense and defense.
"I'm going to walk on," he said, "but hopefully I'm going to (earn) a scholarship and just show them how I am."
Craig said everything Collins has coming his way is well deserved.
"He's a great young man, great character, works extremely hard, very dedicated to what's going on," Craig said. "He has a great plan for the future, and that's one of the things I always talk to kids about. You've got to have a great plan for the future, and he does. He did a great job of planning all that out.
"From a standpoint of football, he's done everything he could at Siloam to help us be successful and he's a great team player. You couldn't ask for a better kid, and I just love what he did for our program. I'm looking forward to seeing him go to the next level."
Sports on 02/10/2019