There is a good reason that Maple Grove star senior football player Isaac Collins is playing this season with a chip on his shoulder.

Collins, one of the most prolific two-way football players in the state, is shocked that he did not receive any football scholarship offer from a Division I college. Zippo. None.

“I believe I wasn’t getting recruited enough to play football and I don’t have any division one offers, which kind of shocks me,” said Collins. “So this year I’ve almost been playing with a chip on my shoulder to show all the coaches that they’ve missed out on a great football player.”

Collins, a 5-9, 180 pound running back and defensive back entering his third varsity season, has made his statement by having a monster season. Offensively, the speedy and mercurial Collins has already broken the school’s single season rushing touchdown record with 20 in nine games. He set the record in the win over Shakopee and added two more TDs in last week’s win over Eastview. The old record of 15 was set by Ethan Magstadt in 2006 and Justin Lehman in 1998.

“Isaac broke a Maple Grove single season record for rushing touchdowns in a season… and he did it while still in the regular season,” Crimson coach Matt Lombardi said. “He truly had a memorable regular season.”

And Collins is closing in on Magstadt’s all-time single season record of 1,326 yards set in 2006. Collins has 1,318 after the Eastview game.

Defensively, Collins is again a shutdown defensive back who is assigned to cover the other team’s top threat and is the last line of defense against opponent’s long runs.

Collins was coming off a great junior season as a two-way player, but offensively he was one of the two-headed monsters with the graduated Clark Wieneke. In his senior season Collins has become the primary ball carrier and he has responded with one of the most dominant seasons in Crimson football history.

“I’d say that’s a big reason,” Collins said. “I am getting more touches this year than I did last year, but I learned a lot last year at how to be a good running back at the varsity level. It’s much different than running back freshman year. So last year being able to learn from Clark and run behind Ben Shoults and Kayode Awosika taught me a lot and has helped me tremendously this year. Also having a really good offensive line this year again helps a lot obviously. Our offensive line of Awosika, Max Zwach, Logan Newell, Sam Bednartz, Joey Burkstrand, L-V, Jared Martinson, and Will Ruel is a close group of people and have done outstanding this year. Our O-line coach, we call him coach Solo, pushes them every single day and a lot of credit has to go to him too. Our team and offense is centered around those guys and they’ve done amazing this year giving me opportunities to make big plays.”

Defensively, Collins was part of last year’s defense that ranked as one of the top in the state. Most of those starters graduated and the Crimson started off slowly. But Collins said the talented newcomers have made great strides.

“We lost a lot of key players from last year’s team, and so this year we got off to a little bit of a slow start,” he said. “But each week we are getting better and better and right now going in to playoffs we are playing the best we have been all year. We have tremendous amount of athleticism this year on our defense and for us to win a state championship our defense is going to have to carry our team. I strongly believe we can do that because the talent we have on our defense this year is just as good as or better than last year’s.”

With Collins leading the way, the Crimson are again enjoying a great season. They are ranked sixth in the state and have earned a top seed in the section playoffs. A win over Armstrong this Friday and they will be back in the state tournament. Collins and the Crimson came agonizingly close to beating eventual state champion Eden Prairie in the state semifinal last year. This fall, they have one goal in mind.

“Our expectations are to win a state championship,” Collins said. “I strongly believe this is our year and our confidence going into playoffs this year is the most I’ve seen compared to my sophomore and junior years. We’ve played a tough schedule and our record isn’t as good as it has been in years past but since we’ve played such a good schedule we believe we can beat anyone in the state, including Eden Prairie. We’re playing our best football right now and if we keep things rolling you should see us in the state championship game.”

Which brings us back to Collins’ feeling slighted by Div. I football schools. Don’t feel too bad for him because he has accepted a baseball scholarship from Div. I Creighton University, A slick fielding, sweet hitting short stop, Collins was heavily recruited by many Div. 1 schools and chose Creighton, a great baseball school that plays its home games at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, the home of the College World Series. Perhaps those football coaches knew that Collins would choose baseball over football, therefore they decided to save the scholarship.

“It was a tough decision but through my whole recruiting process in both sports I was just focusing on the school that gave me the best opportunities and not worrying about the sport,” Collins said. “I was getting recruited a lot more for baseball and so before my decision I kind of knew that’s the sport I’d probably play. Luckily I found Creighton, a great baseball program with a great coaching staff and I love the players too. Their facilities are one of the best in the nation and the school itself is very good. I feel like it’s a great fit for me because they love me as a shortstop and I have an opportunity to play my freshman year. I’m more than happy to know I’ll be in a great situation for the next chapter of my life despite it not being football.”

Now that he has chosen baseball as his collegiate sport, Collins will try his best to prolong his football career.

“Since it is my last year of football I’m enjoying every minute of it,” he said.