While playing college football is a dream to many, senior Dallas Grant Collins made that a reality by signing a letter of intent to play at Mississippi College.

“Being able to play college ball is truly a dream come true,” Collins said. “This accomplishment did not come easy to Collins though.”

One day during football practice, Collins went up to catch a pass and landed wrong. After visits to the doctor, he found out that he had ruptured the sheath of his posterior tibial tendon. There have been 32 injuries like this one since 1968.

“I was expected to still be in rehab right now,” Collins said. “Instead, I was able to play my last football game and am doing great things in track at the moment.”

After finding out the severity of this injury, the fear of colleges not being interested in recruiting him came into play.

“I knew I had to have a good senior year to really ‘wow’ the coaches and to get noticed,” Collins said. “When I got hurt, it really bummed me out to have that opportunity taken away. I thank God that Mississippi College was still interested in me in spite of my injury.”

After nine weeks of being out: five weeks in a cast, two weeks in a boot, two weeks in a brace and rehab, Collins received news that he was medically released and would be able to play against Navarro for the Bi-District Championship game.

“I was super excited when I got the news that I would be able to play,” Collins said. “When it ended up being the last game of the season, it was a blessing that I got to be on the field one last time.”

Out of all of the colleges, Collins decided to go to Mississippi College because of their different recruiting process.

“The first thing the coach asked me was if I was disciplined,” Collins said. “He wanted to see what kind of person I was before finding out what kind of player I was, and he showed the most interest in me, even after my injury.”

With a lot of emotions involved, Collins will be attending Mississippi College early August.

“It’s going to be challenging having football essentially being my job, but I’m excited for it,” Collins said. “I’m looking forward to having a successful first season.”