A speedy and powerful runner, Collins first garnered notoriety in high school as a starter on the 1976 New York State Class B Champion Penn Yan Academy Mustangs.
Collins attended East Carolina University and was selected in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft by the New England Patriots.
Collins' drug problem began when he became addicted to painkillers after suffering an ankle injury with the Patriots in 1982.
On July 9, 1991, Collins drove his car into a lake in Orlando in an apparent suicide attempt.
Collins started a foundation in 2007 called "It's for the Kids", which works with disadvantaged youths in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York.