Tory Collins is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

and the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams amon ...

Playing career

College career

Collins was an undrafted

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

from

Northwestern State University Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

. He transferred to Northwestern State after originally playing at

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

.Chicagobears.com
Collins driven by devastating natural disaster
Retrieved on May 12, 2007

Professional career

Collins played in three preseason games with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

during their 2007 season. In those games he recorded a single tackle in a loss to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. Collins was cut from the Bears' active roster before the 2007 season.

Personal life

Collins hails from

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, where his family lived until their home was destroyed by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in 2005. He cited his desire to help his family as one of his biggest motivations to excel as a professional athlete. Collins also played to honor the memory of

Marquise Hill Marquise Hill (August 7, 1982 – May 28, 2007) was an American football defensive end for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Patriots in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college ...

, a former NFL player and close friend, who died on May 28, 2007.Mayer, Larry
Bears rookie trying to cope with yet another tragedy
(June 8, 2007), chicagobears.com, Retrieved on June 9, 2007.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Tory Living people American football defensive tackles LSU Tigers football players Northwestern State Demons football players Chicago Bears players Alaska Wild players Sioux Falls Storm players Year of birth missing (living people) 1980s births