While Michigan is in the final stages of its CFP National Championship Game preparation, head coach Jim Harbaugh had time Saturday night to watch one of his former players string together a massive performance at the pro level. Houston Texans wide receiver Nico Collins — who played for Harbaugh’s Wolverines from 2017-19 — had a career night in the team’s regular-season finale, catching nine passes for a personal-best 195 yards and a touchdown.
Serving as the go-to target for quarterback C.J. Stroud, Collins posted his fifth 100-yard outburst of the breakout 2023 season. It took little time for him to make his imprint on the victory over the Indianapolis Colts, as he broke loose for a 75-yard touchdown on the Texans’ first offensive play from scrimmage.
“It was fun to watch,” Harbaugh said in the final press conference before Monday’s national championship game. “It was just great, just go back and think about the time when he was in high school, visiting him at his school. Reporting as a freshman, how hard it was to put him in that position. It warms the cockles of the heart. It was great. Just keep doing you, Nico. It’s working.”
Collins, a third-year pro, is in the midst of his best NFL season yet. Across 15 appearances and 10 starts, the Michigan product has 80 receptions for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns — all career-highs. He has quickly become the focal point of a prolific passing attack led by the likely NFL Rookie of the Year in Stroud.
Success at football’s highest level comes as little surprise to those who saw Collins’ development over three years at Michigan. While he served in a limited role as a freshman in 2017, playing in just four games, he excelled upon cracking the starting lineup a year later.
Collins received All-Big Ten honorable mention recognition as a sophomore upon piling up 38 catches for 632 yards, earning the team’s Most Improved Player award. Stellar play late in the season, which included a two-touchdown effort at Ohio State and an 80-yard performance in the Peach Bowl, was a harbinger of things to come for the following campaign.
During his third and final year in Ann Arbor, Collins enjoyed a similarly productive season, catching 37 passes for 729 yards and pacing the Wolverines with seven touchdowns. His 19.7 yards per catch led the Big Ten and indicated his big-play ability, which now translates to the NFL. Collins earned Michigan’s Offensive Player of the Year honor during that junior campaign.
