Damon Jamal Collins (September 22, 1976 – October 26, 2014), nicknamed Mo Collins, was an American college and professional football player who was an offensive lineman in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. Collins played college football for the University of Florida, and was a member of a national championship team. The Oakland Raiders selected him in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft, and he played his entire professional career for the Raiders.
Collins was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1976.[1] He attended West Charlotte High School in Charlotte,[2] and he played high school football for the West Charlotte Lions. Collins was a key member of the Lions' North Carolina 4A state championship team in 1993. The Charlotte Observer ranked him as one of the top five high school football players in the state of North Carolina in 1993.
The Oakland Raiders selected Collins in the first round (twenty-third pick overall) of the 1998 NFL Draft,[4] and he played for the Raiders from 1998 to 2003.[5] In his six NFL seasons, Collins appeared in seventy-one regular season games and started in sixty-four of them.[1]
Collins was hired as the head coach of the West Charlotte Lions football team of West Charlotte High School, his alma mater, on February 7, 2014.[6] Collins died Sunday, October 26, 2014; he had been receiving dialysis treatment after suffering kidney failure.[7]
^National Football League, Historical Players, Mo Collins. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
^Herb White, "Collins vows to revive West Charlotte: Former Raider hopes to awaken football team that went 18-40 in 5 seasons," Charlotte Observer, p. 1C (February 8, 2014).
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Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X.