Next Marshawn Lynch? Alex Collins' wait ends in fifth round
Arkansas and Bret Bielema continue to be underrated as a factory of NFL draft picks.
On Friday, Alex Collins became the latest Razorbacks player to get selected in the draft — near the bottom of the fifth round, to the Seattle Seahawks.
The NEWEST #ProHog ➡️ @Budda03 #NFLDraft https://t.co/BhVlvTWvuh
— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) April 30, 2016
Collins, sometimes overlooked in the SEC behind Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry, 2015 first-round pick Todd Gurley and ’16 returnees Leonard Fournette and Nick Chubb, exited Fayetteville, Ark., as the only running back in the conference with three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
When Jonathan Williams broke his foot prior to the 2015 season, Collins matured into one of the team’s leaders and absorbed even more carries. He punctuated his Arkansas career with a final season of 1,577 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns, helping the team improve from 0-8 in the SEC in ’13 to 5-3 last year.
Prior to ’15, he served as part of an intimidating 1-2 punch with Williams. The two combined as the only pair of running backs in the SEC to each top 1,000 rushing yards in the ’14 season, and Williams came within 100 yards of helping the duo achieve that feat in ’13 as well.
Collins was involved in a number of huge moments for Arkansas the last three years, including the incredible fourth-and-25 overtime conversion that helped the team upset Ole Miss, 53-52, 17 100-yard games and a five-touchdown performance against UT-Martin on just 16 carries.
With 3,703 career rushing yards, Collins ranks second in Arkansas history behind only Darren McFadden.
Williams went No. 156 overall to the Buffalo Bills, 15 spots before Collins. That was a minor surprise. But it seems fitting that the two got drafted so close together.
Seattle was in need of running back help as Marshawn Lynch retired after the 2015 season. Thomas Rawls surpassed Lynch as the team’s No. 1 ball-carrier last year, rushing for 830 yards at 5.6 yards per carry. And quarterback Russell Wilson is a good runner as well. So Collins will be headed to another team with several competent players to run the ball.