Austin Collie

Early life

Collie was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to American parents Scott and Nicole Collie. Scott Collie played football at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 1979–1982 and played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and briefly in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers during the 1983 pre-season. His older brother, Zac Collie, also played receiver for the BYU Cougars from 2003–2006. Austin served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was recruited by Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State, Washington State, Oregon State, Colorado, Utah, and UNLV before signing with BYU.

Collie starred as a wide receiver at Oak Ridge High School and garnered many awards. He was a PrepStar and SuperPrep All-American as well as being voted Northern California's Most Valuable Player. During his senior season, he recorded 60 receptions for a total of 978 yards and 18 touchdowns. In 2004, Collie became an Eagle Scout.

In December 2009, Collie's hometown newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, named him Sacramento Area's Player of the Decade (2000–2009).

College career

In 2004, Collie was named MWC Freshman of the Year. He was also named the MVP of the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl and all–MWC first–team receiver in 2008.

Collie set a series of records during his three–year career at BYU (2004, 2007–2008).

Reception records in BYU Cougars football history

Additionally, Collie was also one of the highest rated wide receivers in College Football during his junior season in which he was selected to the college football All–American team.

2008 NCAA receiving records

On January 9, 2009, Collie announced in a press conference that he would forgo his senior year and enter the 2009 NFL Draft. The Indianapolis Colts then drafted him in the fourth round.

Indianapolis Colts

Collie impressed Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell in the preseason and was placed third on the depth chart at the wide receiver position for the 2009 season, placing ahead of Pierre Garçon for the slot receiver position. However, Garçon soon jumped Collie on the depth chart shortly thereafter. Collie finished his rookie season in the NFL among the top statistical leaders for all rookies at the wide receiver position.

Collie started his second year promising, making numerous touchdown catches and establishing himself as Peyton Manning's "go-to guy", after Dallas Clark got a season-ending injury. However, on November 7, 2010, Collie was involved in a collision against the Philadelphia Eagles, in which he was hit on both sides of his head by Quintin Mikell and Kurt Coleman. Collie was taken off the field on a stretcher. According to a televised ESPN update, Collie was seen sitting up and moving after several minutes working with medics. Collie suffered a concussion as a result of the collision. Coleman was penalized for unnecessary roughness for the hit on Collie, but neither player was fined, as the NFL later ruled that the contact that caused the injury was incidental as a result of Mikell's initial hit. On December 19, 2010, Collie was hit in the head by Jaguar's linebacker Daryl Smith and was down for several minutes. It was his second concussion-related injury that year and ultimately ended his 2010 season. Despite the fact that no fines have been assessed, the highly visible injuries to Collie have added to the debate about violent hits in football. On December 22, 2010, Collie was placed on injured reserve, the seventeenth Colt to end his season early in 2010. Collie played in all 16 games, making 5 starts, during the 2011 regular season but managed to only catch one touchdown pass among his 54 receptions. During a 2012 preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Collie suffered his third concussion of his career. During the third game of the 2012 season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Collie suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee, causing him to miss the rest of the 2012 season.

On February 15, 2013, Collie was told he would not be re-signed by the Colts.

San Francisco 49ers

On August 2, 2013, the San Francisco 49ers signed Collie to a 1−year contract. He was released on August 31, 2013 during final roster cuts.

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots signed Collie as a free agent on October 3, 2013. He was signed for a one-year, veteran-minimum contract, which is $715,000 but prorated to $546,765. Due to Collie's previous injuries, the contract includes an injury waiver, meaning the Patriots can release him if he is injured and only owe him a "split" (50%) of the contract. He was released November 5, 2013 because of a knee injury, after only 3 catches for 34 yards. He was re-signed by the Patriots on December 5, 2013 to add depth with rookie wideouts Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins dealing with nagging injuries. He was released once more on December 27, 2013 only to be re-signed on January 2, 2014. The Patriots released Collie again after the NFL playoffs.

BC Lions

On January 29, 2015, it was announced that Collie had signed a contract with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. In his first and only CFL season Collie played in 16 games catching 43 passes for 439 yards with 7 touchdowns.

On April 8, 2016, Collie announced his retirement from professional football.