Ricky Collins Jr. (born March 5, 1992) 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 ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

who played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). 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 ...

Kilgore College Kilgore College (KC) is a public community college in Kilgore, Texas. It has an annual enrollment in excess of 5,000 students and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award the associate ...

Midwestern State University Midwestern State University (MSU Texas) is a public liberal arts university in Wichita Falls, Texas. As of Fall 2024, MSU Texas enrolled 5,324 students. It is the state's only public institution focused on the liberal arts. History Founded in ...

, and

Texas A&M University–Commerce East Texas A&M University (ETAMU; formerly Texas A&M University–Commerce) is a public university in Commerce, Texas, United States. With an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the university is the third-largest institution in ...

. He was a member of the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

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), the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

, and

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

of the CFL, and the

Brooklyn Bolts The Brooklyn Bolts were a professional football (gridiron), professional American football team based in Brooklyn, New York City, New York (state), New York. They were a charter member of the Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL), which was t ...

of the

Fall Experimental Football League The Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL) was a professional football minor league that played two seasons in 2014 and 2015. This league's stated goal was to become a professional feeder-system for the National Football League (NFL). The le ...

Early life

Collins played high school football at

John Tyler High School Tyler High School, formerly known as John Tyler High School, is a public co-educational secondary school in Tyler, Texas. It is part of the Tyler Independent School District. It serves grades 9 through 12. About Tyler High School was named af ...

, in his hometown,

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

. During his senior season, he caught 44 passes for 1,053 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also ran the sprint relays in track for his high school.

College career

Collins begin his college career in 2010 at Kilgore Junior College; he had 34 receptions for 654 yards and 3 touchdowns during his freshman season. During his sophomore season in 2011, he continued at Kilgore and caught 50 passes for 571 yards with 6 touchdowns. After playing at Kilgore, Collins transferred to

for the 2012 season. He started in 2 out of the first 5 games and hauled in 7 passes for 98 yards, before walking away from football to care for his ill father. After the 2012 season, Collins transferred to

but had to sit out a year as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

and pay his own way through school due to the fact that Midwestern State had not released him to be transferred. After sitting out for the 2013 season, Collins was eligible to play in 2014 and caught 71 passes for 1,187 yards and 14 touchdowns, he also threw a 44-yard touchdown pass on a trick play in a game against

Tarleton Tarleton is a village and civil parish in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is situated approximately north-east of Liverpool and south-west of Preston. The parish includes the village of Mere Brow and the hamlets of ...

. He currently holds the A&M–Commerce record for touchdown receptions in a season, which was previously held by his teammate

Vernon Johnson Vernon E. Johnson (August 23, 1920 – April 30, 1999) was an Episcopal priest and recovering alcoholic who devoted his life to a claimed method of alcohol intervention. Johnson's main achievements lie in the field of treatment of chemical depend ...

. He helped lead a conference championship-winning A&M–Commerce team that led the nation in both average points per game (54.1) and average yards per game (535.4). Collins also took part in the team's season-opening, record-breaking performance against East Texas Baptist, during which the offense produced 13 touchdowns, 98 points, and 986 total yards of offense. After the season, he was awarded

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas ...

first team honors. After the 2014 season Collins was selected to compete in the

College Gridiron Showcase The College Gridiron Showcase (CGS) is an independently operated annual post-season college football event hosted each January in Fort Worth, Texas. The event consists of NFL draft prospects who have completed their eligibility in NCAA Division ...

. He was projected to be drafted in the 6th or 7th round of the

NFL Draft The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

. However, one NFL scout said of Collins: "Good size and has talent but was in a very simple offense and I think he needs to come in as a free agent and prove he can take on a pro offense."

NCAA statistics

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

After his 2014 season, Collins signed with the

as an undrafted free agent. He sustained an injury during minicamp and was placed on the physically unable to perform list entering training camp before the preseason. Collins was cut by the Packers with an injury settlement just before the start of the 2015 preseason.

Brooklyn Bolts

Collins joined the

of the

for the remainder of 2015.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

On January 14, 2016, Collins was signed by the

of the

. He was released by the team on May 3, 2016.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

Collins signed with the

on May 29, 2016. Collins got off to a great start in the 2016 season with his best performance coming in a Week 3 game against the

, where Collins caught 6 passes for 115 yards and 1 touchdown. Collins was placed on the six-game injured reserve list on September 17, 2016. Collins returned from injury in Week 17 and had a big performance, catching 7 passes for 113 yards and 1 touchdown against the

. Collins finished his first season with 48 receptions for 720 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also had 8 kick returns for 151 yards, 4 punt returns for 41 yards, and 1 missed field goal returned for 38 yards, giving him a total of 950 all-purpose yards for the season. He was second on the team in receiving yards and tied for second on the team in receiving touchdowns despite the fact that he missed 4 games. Collins began the 2017 season on the six-game injured reserve list with a shoulder injury that he had sustained during the Week 1 match-up against the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

. Collins would only play in only one game for the Riders in 2017.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

On August 21, 2017, Collins was traded to the

along with a seventh round pick in the 2018 CFL draft, in exchange for defensive end Mike McAdoo and a sixth round pick in the 2018 draft. He was cut from team on September 26, 2017, having never made an appearance.

BC Lions

About a week after free agency began Collins signed with the

on February 22, 2018. On July 20 in a game against the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

Collins caught 6 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown including a clutch 39 yard reception in the 2nd quarter to put the Lions into scoring position. However the Lions still fell short and lost the game 29–25. He had another big performance in a rematch against the Redblacks, Collins finished the game with 10 receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown as the Lions defeated the Redblacks 26–14. The Lions made the playoffs and lost 48–8 against the

, Collins led the team in receiving in this playoff game with 5 receptions for 95 yards. Collins finished the season with 60 receptions for 611 yards, 2 receiving touchdowns, 10 rushing yards, along with 46 yards as a returner on special teams.

Edmonton Eskimos

In February 2019, Collins was signed to a three-year contract during the first day of free agency. Collins provided an immediate impact for Edmonton, with a 175-yard performance in week 1. Collins amassed 3 games where he surpassed 100 yards receiving, and was a consistent contributor, passing the 1,000 yard receiving mark for the first time in his career to help Edmonton return to the playoffs. After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Collins chose to opt-out of his contract with the Eskimos on August 26, 2020. He opted back into his contract with the Eskimos on October 6, 2020. He was released on January 31, 2021, and announced his retirement from football on February 26, 2021.

Toronto Argonauts

On June 28, 2021, Collins signed with the

of the

. Collins finished the season with 55 receptions for 642 yards and helped lead the Argonauts to the playoffs.

CFL statistics

;Regular season ;Postseason

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Ricky 1992 births Living people Players of American football from Tyler, Texas Players of Canadian football from Texas American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers East Texas A&M Lions football players Green Bay Packers players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Kilgore Rangers football players Midwestern State Mustangs football players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players BC Lions players Edmonton Elks players Toronto Argonauts players Brooklyn Bolts players