UTC football team gains edge from Austin Collier's versatility

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / UTC senior Austin Collier dives for Wofford's David Legette during the Sept. 3 season opener between SoCon teams at Finley Stadium. Collier, who starred as a running back in high school, has played multiple positions during his time with the Mocs
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / UTC senior Austin Collier dives for Wofford's David Legette during the Sept. 3 season opener between SoCon teams at Finley Stadium. Collier, who starred as a running back in high school, has played multiple positions during his time with the Mocs

Austin Collier never gave up on football or himself.

He made his way to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga after the 2017 season, having spent his freshman year on the other side of the state as a running back at Bethel University in McKenzie. Since arriving, he has spent time as a running back, tight end, defensive lineman and outside linebacker for the Mocs.

But as his college football career winds down — Collier graduated from UTC with a degree in exercise science last December — it appears the 6-foot, 246-pounder from Nashville has found a position that allows him to play the way he wants to play: running full speed with little respect for the person in front of him.

Collier's move to edge rusher has paid dividends for the Mocs (7-3, 5-2 Southern Conference) who will play what they hope is the finale only to their regular season at 1 p.m. Saturday at Western Carolina (5-5, 3-4). The Football Championship Subdivision's 24-team playoff bracket will be revealed at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU, and UTC is currently ranked 15th in the Stats Perform Top 25 and 17th by FCS coaches.

Collier is fourth on the team in sacks this season with four, despite getting those in a reserve role and despite not really knowing what he's doing. He had two sacks in last Saturday's 35-24 home loss to Samford, and he also had a pair in the Mocs' 41-13 home win over Virginia Military Institute a month ago.

"He wants to be a running back, but Austin did not know how to use his hands when he first moved over there (to defense), so he would use his head," offensive lineman McClendon Curtis said. "I told him to use his hands (to get to the quarterback), and he was just like, 'I don't know how to do anything else.' In the last year and a half, he's started using his hands in pass-rushing moves, and his strength is unmatched.

"From freshman year to now, it's a different Austin. Regardless of who he's hitting, he has no regard for them; he'll take it easy on us in practice, but I've seen him on kickoff, and he just has no regard."

Collier rushed for more than 2,500 yards and 33 touchdowns during his high school career at Mt. Juliet Christian. He admitted he has "found his home" on defense as an edge rusher but also said he wouldn't mind carrying the ball one more time — provided it was a fumble recovery and he was attempting to score.

It was a journey just to get to this point off the field as well as on. After leaving Bethel due to what he said were "personal issues," Collier considered being done with football. Tom Arth, UTC's head coach at the time, brought him in as a walk-on for a year before leaving for Akron, and then Collier had to figure out where he belonged under new coach Rusty Wright.

It has taken time, but it appear he has done so.

"You see how hard he's worked to be a guy" who can contribute, Wright said, adding that the versatile Collier is willing to "go play snaps on the scout field to give the offense a look, and then he'll turn around and run down there and take those snaps on defense and turn around and go back.

"He plays on the kickoff team, he plays on the punt team, he plays on the punt return team and he plays on the kickoff return team, and he's the first one down on kickoff and he's usually blowing somebody up. He makes it like every play is going to be his last. He's a jack of all trades, a master of none, and you need guys like that on your roster. You've got to have guys like that on your roster."

How has he figured things out? By not giving up.

"I came in day by day and just worked as hard as I could," Collier said. "You just have to put your head down and work, because not all days are going to look the same, so you've got to know the process and just trust it. I have to look at it like this is my role for this team to be successful, and I'm going to do that part to the best of my ability."

  photo  Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / UTC senior edge rusher Austin Collier sacks Samford's Michael Hiers on Saturday at Finley Stadium. Collier has four sacks this season, ranking fourth on the team despite playing in a reserve role and at a position he had to learn at UTC. He also plays on multiple special teams units.
 
 

Another Moc in Mobile

Curtis (6-6, 328), a sixth-year member of the program and a team captain, has accepted an invitation to take part in the Senior Bowl.

The Chattanooga native who was a prep standout for the Central Purple Pounders also had invitations to the East-West Shrine Game in Las Vegas and the Hula Bowl in Orlando, Florida, but he chose the showcase that takes place Feb. 4 in Mobile, Alabama, and will be televised by the NFL Network. It will be preceded by a week of practice and plenty of attention from NFL personnel for draft hopefuls.

He will be the latest UTC offensive lineman to take part in the event. Corey Levin did so in 2017 and was selected in the sixth round that year by the Tennessee Titans. Last year, Cole Strange went to Mobile and later to Indianapolis for the NFL combine before being drafted in the first round at No. 29 overall by the New England Patriots.

In a UTC release that included an announcement of Curtis picking the Senior Bowl, Wright said such honors show the Mocs offer players the opportunity to develop into pro prospects as they "get a chance to play every down instead of going somewhere else and maybe sit behind somebody or share snaps."

Said Wright of Curtis: "He got the opportunity to play every down here and made the most of it."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.


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