Collie’s colleagues heaping high praise

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By MATTHEW C. STEVENS

Dylan Collie comes from a family steeped in BYU football heritage, and his father and high school football coach say he may just be the best Collie yet.

“Mechanically, he is further along now than his older brothers, Austin and Zac, were at his age,” said Scott Collie, who played at BYU during the late 1970s and early ’80s.

Dylan, who verbally committed to the Cougar football team last week as a 2012 recruit, is close to finishing his junior year at Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, Calif. Oak Ridge football coach Eric Cavaliere said Dylan is a huge part of his team.

“Dylan is going to do a lot for us next season,” Cavaliere said. “He will probably do a lot more than Austin did for us. In fact, the only time he won’t be on the field is when we kick off.”

Oak Ridge has a storied football history. Since Cavaliere joined the coaching staff in 1998, the Trojans have won four section championships and produced three NFL players.

Cavaliere helped coach all three Collie brothers. Oldest brother Zac played for BYU in the mid 2000s, finishing his Cougar career with 37 catches for 595 yards and four touchdowns, while Austin played for the Cougars in 2004 and 2007-08. He finished his BYU career with a school-record 3,255 receiving yards, 215 receptions and 30 touchdowns. Austin is now an integral part of the Indianapolis Colts’ team.

“You can’t coach the work ethic and determination that Zac and Austin had; Dylan is no exception,” Cavaliere said. “His route running and ability to catch the football is amazing.”

Cavaliere said he still expects a lot from Dylan next year, and Oak Ridge will be competing for a section championship and should be a strong team in the playoffs.

Dylan said he is looking forward to his senior season and is glad to know where he is going to play in college.

“I didn’t always know I wanted to come to BYU,” Dylan said. “I had been in contact with schools in the Pac-12 and the WAC, too. It wasn’t until [BYU offensive coordinator Brandon] Doman asked me if there were any reasons not to come to BYU and I had been thinking the same thing. So I committed.”

Dylan said if he had to compare himself to someone in his family, it would be Zac, but he said he has taken parts of all of their games.

Scott said the whole Collie family is excited he is going to BYU, but he still has a lot to prove.

“Dylan loves to play under pressure,” Scott said. “In a way, he is always under pressure because of the comparison he always gets with his brothers.”

Scott said his youngest son is a lot further along in his progression than his brothers were at his age partly because of Dylan’s need to prove himself.

“Dylan has a special drive about him because people are always wanting him to fail, so to speak, because of his brothers,” Scott said.

Dylan will not be leaving high school early to come to BYU for spring workouts as some college football players have been doing in recent years. He said, however, that he will wait until two days after graduation to leave for BYU.

Dylan plans to play his freshman year at BYU, the 2012 season, before leaving on an LDS mission.

 

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