Former Penn State star Kerry Collins, who was the Nittany Lions’ quarterback during their undefeated 1994 season, has been voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Penn State tweeted the news Monday morning.
Collins, a Lebanon native who played his high school football at Wilson High School in Berks County after transferring to the school district in 1987, was a full-time starter at Penn State for the Lions’ 1993 and 1994 seasons. He finished with 5,304 career passing yards, 39 touchdowns passes and 21 interceptions. In his senior season, Penn State went 12-0 and defeated Pac-10 champion Oregon in the Rose Bowl, but was denied a national championship, which instead went to Nebraska.
Penn State’s offense broke 14 school records and led the nation in scoring average (47.8 points per game) and total offense (520 yards per game) in Collins’ final season.
Collins was drafted fifth overall by the Carolina Panthers in 1995. He led the Panthers to an appearance in the NFC title game in 1996. He stayed with the Panthers until 1998 before moving on to spend one season with the New Orleans Saints. He then signed with the New York Giants, where he spent five years, before ending his career with stints with the Oakland Raiders (2004-05), the Tennessee Titans (2006-10), and one final year with the Indianapolis Colts in 2011.
Collins passed for more than 40,000 yards and had 208 TD passes in his 16-year NFL career.
