Todd Franklin Collins (born May 27, 1970) is a former

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. He started for the

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Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

, and

Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 NFL season, 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champ ...

for the Rams. Collins was a champion in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and

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football. He led Jefferson County High School to the 1987

TSSAA The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), along with the affiliated Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association (TMSAA), is an organization which administers junior and senior high school sporting events in Tennessee. The TSSAA ...

AAA State Championship. Coming out of Jefferson County, Collins was a ''

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'' High School All-American. He received a

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to the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, where his older brother Brent was already enrolled. Injury problems kept Todd off the field during the 1988 season, and he transferred to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

for one semester. Both Collins brothers subsequently ended up at Carson-Newman College, with whom they won the 1989 NAIA National Championship. Collins was drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott Mar ...

. He left the Patriots for the Rams in 1999. Part of the compensation package the Patriots received from Rams included the 199th pick in the

2000 NFL draft The 2000 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur U.S. college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 15– 16, 2000, at the Thea ...

, which the Patriots used to draft

Tom Brady Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Todd 1970 births Living people American football linebackers Carson–Newman Eagles football players New England Patriots players St. Louis Rams players People from New Market, Tennessee Sportspeople from the Knoxville metropolitan area Players of American football from Tennessee