By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
Catawba special teams player James Collins isn’t the standard foreign exchange student.
Collins is a 2008 graduate of East Islip High in Long Island, N.Y., which is technically in the same country as Salisbury, but not really.
“Yeah, it’s a little different here,” Collins said. “I’ve got a grandpa in New Orleans, but North Carolina is still different. The accents ó wow. People are laid-back. People talk slower. People aren’t as antsy to do stuff. People drive slower. I mean, they don’t mind taking their time.”Collins was baffled by bizarre phrases he encountered, such as “Hey, bo” and “Hey, y’all.”
“At first, I had to ask what they meant and could they please reword that for me,” he explained. “Now I know they were asking me ‘Whassup?’ It just took me a little while.”
Collins hasn’t gone one-on-one with grits yet, but he’s encountered another Southern dietary staple he found even more exotic.
“We were at Uncle Buck’s and they had this thing called livermush,” said Collins, pronouncing the dish in question as liver-moosh.
How was the moosh?
“Didn’t eat it,” Collins said.
Still, Collins has encountered enough edible vittles to nourish a body that’s a rock-solid 6-foot-1, 200 pounds. He looks like a strong safety is supposed to look and may have a future role as an every-down DB. That’s the plan, anyway.
“We believe he’ll be a good player in the end because he has good size, he’s aggressive and he can run,” Catawba coach Chip Hester said. “He’s just got to work on his footwork because one wrong step at safety can mean a touchdown over your head. We’ll find the right fit on how to use him. Spring ball next year will be big for him.”
At East Islip, Boomer Esiason’s old stomping grounds, Collins was a fine lacrosse player and a good football player. He played tight end and defensive end for an 11-0 team that won the Long Island championship.
“I wasn’t a standout,” Collins said. “I was just one of the guys blending in on a good team. Our only standout was the quarterback.”
Rob Calabrese moved on to Central Florida. Collins wanted to keep playing football, but to do that he had to sharpen his academic credentials. He spent last year taking classes at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island. Suffolk didn’t field a football team.
Collins first heard about Catawba at a college fair while he was in high school and contacted recruiting coordinator D.J. Summers. After a visit to Salisbury, Collins was sold on Southern hospitality and knew that Catawba was where he wanted to resume his football career.
Collins came reasonably close to redshirting this season, but coach John Fitz saw a 200-pound guy with 4.7 speed and passion for contact. Fitz was confident Collins could make an immediate impact on special teams.
That theory has proven correct. Collins is a member of four “special forces” units. He’s on the punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return teams.
On the punt return team, he recovered the kick that Jaspen Gray blocked last Saturday on the Newberry 1-yard line. That set up the touchdown that cut Catawba’s deficit to 28-14 and offered temporary hope of a rally.”To redshirt or not came right down to the end of camp,” Collins said. “I wanted to help the team, win games, wanted to be on the field, so that’s the decision we made.”
Collins is playing 640 miles from home but relatives, including his mother, made the trip to Salisbury for the Mars Hill game.
“I’ve got a big, close family,” Collins said. “At my high school games, maybe a quarter of the crowd was related to me, so playing at Catawba really is a little bit of a changeup. My father listens to all the games. He’s listening to the pregame an hour before and probably for another hour after.”
Collins’ father heard his son make a key play Saturday, and there should be more good moments ahead.
Collins plans to spend this summer at Catawba working out with Fitz. That shows his dedication to getting better and making his mark.
“James has got a very mature, professional approach,” Hester said. “He’s got to go back home for a funeral this week, but he’s taking the special teams playbook for Carson-Newman with him and will be studying on the plane.”
Hester said he and Fitz have put increased emphasis on special teams the past two weeks. That phase of the game has made progress.
One of the bright spots has been a fast-talking freshman, a diehard Jets and Yankees fan from Long Island.
“At first I was worried we might need a translator to get him to understand me, but we’ve taught James some Southern lingo,” Hester said with a chuckle.
“I’m a North Carolina kid and it’s great to have a lot of North Carolina kids, but James has been a great addition. Talking to him is a breath of fresh air.”