After four years of soaking up the rays of the Florida sun, Anthony Collins decided to come back to his true home – Texas.
Growing up in Houston, Collins won two Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools state championships at Westbury Christian. He became the high school’s all-time assists leader before committing to the University of South Florida. At USF, Collins started 98 of 101 games where he averaged 8.1 points per game and 5.2 assists per outing. He also finished second on the program’s all-time assists list.
However, even after graduating in four years, Collins came back to Texas to be with his family.
“I am from Houston, so I wanted to play in front of my parents and play where my parents could see me in my last year,” Collins said. “I knew [Danuel House], and we went to middle school together, so there was a connection there. I thought it was a place with guys who had experience and that we could do something special.”
With his family in Houston, Collins could have gone anywhere else in the state, but decided A&M was the right place for him.
“I just took a look at everything … took a look at the team of veterans,” Collins said. “I think with veterans in college, you have a pretty good chance to win. That’s what I saw and that is what I liked.”
Coming into a new system can be a bit of an adjustment period for any athlete. For Collins, the help of his teammates eased him into the suddenly new culture of Aggie basketball.
“Anytime you learn something new, there is an adjustment period, I don’t care how good you are – if you have never done something before, it is going to be hard,” Collins said. “I just tried to come in and listen and everyone helped me out.”
Fellow senior Jalen Jones said that while Collins might not be a name that jumps out on the stat sheet, he is the man to call on for clutch free throws or baskets.
“He’s a big time senior,” Jones said. “He’s made plenty of big time shots at South Florida…He did it at Tennessee, and he did it again [versus Florida]. We have a lot of trust in him that he would knock them down.”
Even with the Arkansas loss on Wednesday night, the recent string of success for the team is one not seen in quite some time in Aggieland. After four years of playing in an arena that averaged about 5,000 people in attendance, Collins got a chance to play in front of an A&M record 13,888 in the win over LSU. When asked to describe the atmosphere of Reed, Collins used only one word.
“Ecstatic,” Collins said. “Just ecstatic.”
From Florida back to his home in Texas, it has been a long journey for Anthony Collins. However, his addition to the program gifted Billy Kennedy with his best squad since beginning his tenure at A&M.