INDIANAPOLIS — Former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Austin Collie this week was named one of five former All-Americans selected for induction into Brigham Young University's Athletic Hall of Fame.
Collie will be honored during a special halftime presentation during today's football game against USC in Provo, Utah.
Collie, an El Dorado Hills, Calif., native, was a record-breaking wide receiver at BYU during his 37 games across the 2004 and 2007-08 seasons. According to BYUCougars.com:
Collie began his BYU career in 2004 by being the freshman national statistical leader in receptions per game (4.8). He also broke the BYU freshman record for touchdown receptions (8) and receiving yards (771). He was named to the Sporting News Freshman All-America Second Team and the Mountain West Freshman of the Year.
Following a two-year LDS Church mission to Buenos Aires, Argentina, Collie returned to BYU in 2007 to earn second-team All-Mountain West Conference honors. He led the Cougars with 56 receptions for 946 yards, averaging nearly 73 yards per game. He also broke Pete Van Valkenburg's 35-year-old BYU record with 366 all-purpose yards against Tulsa and was named the MVP of the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl as he led BYU to a 17-16 win over UCLA.
As a junior in 2008, Collie had arguably the best season of any receiver in BYU football history. He set BYU single-season records for receptions (106), receiving yards (1,538), receiving touchdowns (15) and all-purpose yards (2,112). Collie also led the nation in receiving yards (1,538) and yards per game (118.3) and tied the NCAA single-season record with 11 consecutive 100-yard receiving games.
For his efforts, Collie was named to the 2008 CBSSports.com All-America First Team and received All-American Second Team honors from the Associated Press, Rivals.com, SI.com and Sporting News. He was also a finalist for the 2008 Biletnikoff Award.
In just three seasons at BYU, Collie compiled a total of 3,255 receiving yards, 30 touchdowns and 17 career 100-yard receiving games—all new BYU records.
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A fourth-round pick by the Colts in the 2009 NFL Draft, Collie seemed destined to become yet another quality mid-round pickup by future Hall of Fame general manager Bill Polian — and an ideal fit for an Indy offense that had just lost another future Hall of Famer, Marvin Harrison, to retirement.
And Collie made an instant impact his rookie season in 2009, playing in all 16 games, starting five, and catching 60 passes for 676 yards and seven touchdowns. He was a key weapon for Manning and the AFC Champion Colts, who fell to the Saints, 31-17, in Super Bowl XLIV. During that playoff run, Collie had 17 receptions for 241 yards and two touchdowns, including seven receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown in Indy's 30-17 win over the New York Jets in the AFC Championship Game.
Collie got off to another torrid pace to begin his second season in 2010; in the Colts' first six games, he had caught 44 passes for 503 yards and six touchdowns; included in that run was an 11-catch, 163-yard, one-touchdown performance Week 1 against the Houston Texans, and a 12-catch, 171-yard, two-touchdown performance two weeks later against the Denver Broncos.
Unfortunately, that's when the injuries started piling up. Concussions and knee issues from that point would limit Collie to 42 total games in Indianapolis, where he caught 173 passes for 1,845 yards and 16 touchdowns.
He'd end up playing in parts of seven games, with one start, for the New England Patriots in 2013 — catching six passes for 63 yards — before wrapping up his playing career with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. In his one CFL season, Collie caught 43 passes for 439 yards and seven touchdowns.
