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McAllister Collins' Huskie route to the NFL: Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, and Glasgow

DeKALB, IL --- For some, the route to the National Football League is relatively simple. Get drafted, sign your contract, go to training camp, and make the team. For others, that NFL career path can be a bit more circuitous. Take former Northern Ill




May 6, 2002

McALLISTER COLLINS’ HUSKIE ROUTE TO THE NFL: JACKSONVILLE, PITTSBURGH, AND GLASGOW

DeKALB, IL --- For some, the route to the National Football League is relatively simple. Get drafted, sign your contract, go to training camp, and make the team. For others, that NFL career path can be a bit more circuitous.

Take former Northern Illinois University center McAllister Collins, for example.

Now Glasgow, Scotland, may not be a direct route, but for the 6-foot-2, 307-pound Collins (Richton Park / Chicago Heights Bloom), it represents the best option right now. Currently the property of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers, the former Huskie standout plays back-up center for the Scottish Claymores in the six-team NFL Europe.

“This is just a great opportunity for McAllister,” said Northern Illinois head football coach Joe Novak. “It gives him a chance to get some professional experience against NFL caliber players, play and practice, and then head to an NFL camp this summer. It’s almost similar situation to our Duane Hawthorne who also played in NFL Europe and now is with the Dallas Cowboys.”

Collins, a First-Team All-Mid-American Conference pick as a senior on an offensive line that helped the Huskies finish No. 12 in major-college rushing, No. 12 nationally in scoring, and No. 19 in NCAA total offense in 2000, signed as a free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars and made it to the final cut last August. His rights were re-assigned to the Steelers, which allocated him to NFL Europe for further seasoning.

The 10-week NFL Europe regular season concludes June 15 and World Bowl X is set for June 22 at Dusseldorf’s Rheinstadion---just in time for the start of regular NFL training camps. The Claymores, currently 1-3 in the league, play at the Amsterdam Admirals this Saturday (May 11)---a game scheduled to be televised on Fox Sports Net at noon (CDT).

Hawthorne, a three-season NFL veteran who re-signed with Dallas last week, originally made the Cowboys as a free agent in 1999, then spent a summer with the NFL Europe Scottish Claymores with ex-Northern Illinois teammate Deon Mitchell, and played in World Bowl III in 2000.

“Making the NFL takes a lot of work and perseverance---and sometimes some good fortune, like being in the right place at the right time,” Novak said. “Just like Duane, McAllister has that opportunity in NFL Europe. We know that the NFL people like McAllister’s size and ability to move his feet. Getting more playing time at that level is good for him.”

A four-year letterman with 2,423 career snaps and 32 starts in 44 Huskie appearances, Collins earned 22 collegiate starts at center, nine at offensive tackle, and one at defensive tackle in the Novak era.

In addition to flankerback Darrell Hill (Country Club Hills / Chicago Mount Carmel)---a seventh-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans last month, there will be three other ex-Northern Illinois rookies in NFL camps this summer---wide receiver Frisman Jackson (Cleveland Browns), wide receiver Jon Pendergrass (Seattle Seahawks), and defensive tackle Darian Tate (Carolina Panthers). All three lettered at NIU and transferred into other programs. Pendergrass and Tate did test for NFL scouts in Chick Evans Field House earlier this spring in DeKalb.

(For further information, please contact Mike Korcek) -30-