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A Career Remembered- Collins Inducted Into College Football Hall of Fame

Kerry Collins had abundant NFL career, but it's his Penn State days he remembers most fondly

Kerry Collins enjoyed one of the longest careers of any quarterback in NFL history. But it's his comparatively brief PSU career for which he was honored Tuesday in New York City with his official induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. He's one of the best examples ever of how a quarterback, no matter how skilled, is very often made or broken by the supporting cast with whom he plays.

I spoke with him on Tuesday by phone about his memories of the unbeaten 1994 Penn State team, the stark differences between college football now and when he played -- and a story about a summer volleyball match and a broken finger that ended up stunting his college career. 

The best news I heard from Kerry Collins when I chatted him up last week about his upcoming College Football Hall of Fame induction tomorrow night was not at all what I expected. Especially from a guy who played not only four seasons of quarterback at the major-college level at Penn State but 17 more in the National Football League.

“It’s like I never played football,” said Collins from his suburban Nashville home. “I wake up in the morning feeling fine. I can play tennis, golf anything I want to do without pain.”

Collins is essentially retired at 45, but he remains active, overseeing a couple of farms in Tennessee and North Carolina and some Nashvillle properties. And he’s healthy.

Considering some of the horror stories I’ve heard recently from guys who played a lot fewer years in the NFL, including a couple of Collins’ old PSU teammates, that was great to hear. Of course, he was playing QB, not fullback. But still, you stand in a pocket for as many games as Collins did, the concussive hits will find you. And they found a quarterback as big and tough as they come.

“I know a lot of guys who are struggling at my age,” Collins said. Though, as he put it with a chuckle in his self-deprecating tone:

“I was deficient in a lot of other ways. But I was always durable.”

Story by David Jones, PennLive

2019 Football Schedule

2019 PENN STATE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent
Apr. 13 Blue White Game
Aug. 31 Idaho
Sep. 7 Buffalo
Sep. 14 vs Pittsburgh
Sep. 27 at Maryland
Oct. 5 Purdue
Oct. 12 at Iowa
Oct. 19 Michigan
Oct. 26 at Michigan State
Nov. 9 at Minnesota
Nov. 16 Indiana
Nov. 23 at Ohio State
Nov. 30 Rutgers
Dec. 7 Big Ten Championship--> FUTURE SCHEDULES

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