Cecil J. P. Collins (born November 19, 1976) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

and McNeese State Cowboys

Early life

Collins attended

Leesville High School Leesville High School is a school located in Leesville, Louisiana, United States. The 9-12 school is a part of the Vernon Parish School Board. School uniforms This means that students can wear clothing that conforms to the Vernon Parish Dress ...

in Leesville in Vernon Parish in western

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. There, he amassed 99 touchdowns and 7,833 yards over his

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

career including 3,079 yards during his senior season. Leesville was the 4A state runner-up that year and Cecil was selected as Louisiana's very first "Mr. Football". Collin's struggles began during his senior season at Leesville when the NCAA Clearinghouse declared that he would be required to retake his ACT Test. Cecil had taken the test during his Junior year and had not scored well enough to qualify for Division I schools. At the beginning of his Senior season he retook the exam and improved five points giving him an acceptable score. After reviewing his case however, the NCAA Clearinghouse notified his family that this improvement was unusual and that it would be necessary for him to retest. On his third attempt, Collins failed to make the required score by one point and was forced to sit out his first year at LSU.

College career

After sitting out his freshman year he began his football career at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in less than grand fashion, sitting out the first game of the season serving a suspension for breaking team rules. After this ignoble beginning, however, Collins compiled 596 yards in his first four games before breaking his leg in the game against Vanderbilt. He was kicked off of the LSU squad before the start of his second season after having been twice arrested for illegally entering dwellings. He claimed he was sleepwalking and had no recollection of entering the girls' rooms. He received probation as his sentence and made a second attempt at college football at Division I-AA (FCS)

McNeese State University McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. M ...

in Lake Charles, Louisiana but violated his probation when he failed a

drug screen A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

and was kicked off of the McNeese squad as well.

Professional career

Collins was selected as the first pick in the fifth round of the

1999 NFL draft The 1999 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 17–18, 1999, at the Theater at M ...

by the Dolphins out of McNeese State University by then

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Jimmy Johnson. Signing a three-year contract, His nickname with the Dolphins was 'Cecil the Diesel'. He appeared in eight games in the 1999 season, accumulating 414 yards and two

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s. Collins was suspended indefinitely after his burglary arrest, then released shortly afterward.

Career statistics

Burglary case

On December 16, 1999, Collins committed

burglary Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime involving the illegal entry into a building or other area without permission, typically with the intention of committing a further criminal offence. Usually ...

in Palm Trace Landings, an apartment complex in

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Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He admitted that he broke into the home of a married woman that he knew from the gym, but said he only wanted to watch her sleep. After conviction on the charge, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison on March 27, 2001, and released on May 1, 2013.

Personal life

Collins has three children. During his prison sentence, Collins said he found God and married a woman he met while she was visiting another inmate.

References

External links

Florida Department of Corrections

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Cecil 1976 births American people convicted of burglary Living people People from Leesville, Louisiana Sportspeople from Elizabethtown, Kentucky Players of American football from Kentucky American football running backs LSU Tigers football players McNeese Cowboys football players Miami Dolphins players American prisoners and detainees Place of birth missing (living people) American sportspeople convicted of crimes