Very encouraging update on Austin:
Colts' Collie shows no effects of last year's concussions
Austin Collie is back doing what he does best, what he has done at a high level during his first two seasons as a receiver with the Indianapolis Colts.
"I feel good," Collie said in a recent telephone interview. "I feel like my routes are crisp and I'm catching the ball well. I'm doing all the little things."
Yet questions regarding whether Collie
really is back and has put his concussion-plagued 2010 season behind him will persist until he's not only running routes and catching passes from quarterback Peyton Manning, but is able to absorb and shrug off the ensuing contact.
"I don't know if you can say that (Collie is back) until he gets on the field and actually plays," Colts vice chairman Bill Polian said in February. "Thus far, all the signs are positive."
Collie's comeback from numbing concussions suffered Nov. 7 at Philadelphia and Dec. 19 against Jacksonville, along with what the team described as a third incident involving concussion-like symptoms Nov. 21 at New England, has been seamless.
"No problems," he said. "None."
He resumed training in February, spending time on the West Coast and in Indianapolis. Manning has directed frequent passing sessions and noted that Collie has been himself -- a tireless worker, meticulous route runner and sure-handed receiver.
The sessions, though, are non-contact. Whenever training camp opens, those practices also will involve minimal hitting to receivers and running backs.
Everyone, it seems, is concerned about how Collie's head will react to that first hit, and every subsequent collision with a defensive back or linebacker.
"I'm not even thinking about that," he insisted.
Collie never had concussion issues prior to the chilling incident against the Eagles. Late in the second quarter, he zipped down the field from the left slot and caught a Manning pass in stride. He immediately was hit by safeties Quintin Mikell and Kurt Coleman, the latter being penalized for helmet-to-helmet contact. The impact silenced the sellout crowd at Philadelphia and left Collie unconscious for nearly 45 seconds. He eventually was taken to the locker room on a stretcher.
Collie missed the next game and returned against the Patriots. He caught five passes for 60 yards but complained of dizziness after his head slapped against the turf in the second quarter. Hank Feuer, the Colts' neurosurgeon who was on the sideline, yanked him from the game.
Feuer monitored Collie's progress and the team kept him out of the next three games. When he finally passed the ImPACT test -- the NFL's neurocognitive exam for concussed players -- Collie was cleared to return against the Jaguars on Dec. 19 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Like the previous return, the second was brief. A stirring performance against Jacksonville -- eight receptions, 87 yards, two touchdowns in less than two quarters -- once again ended with a hushed stadium and Collie motionless on the turf. Although he eventually walked to the locker room, he temporarily was knocked out by a forearm to the helmet delivered by linebacker Daryl Smith.
The Colts had seen enough. A few days later, Collie was put on season-ending injured reserve.
Collie has seen video clips of the concussions. He considers them the result of significant but legal hits. He considers them the risks of his profession and has no interest in being the "poster boy" for the concussion issue.
"I haven't sat back and watched them over and over again," Collie said, "but my reaction is they were just two pretty hard hits. They're part of the game. You never know what's going to happen when you step on the field.
"The last thing I want to do is hesitate at any given point. I try to put those things in the back of my mind and not worry about them."
In hindsight, could he have done anything to avoid either incident?
"Not at all," Collie said. "It was just playing football and unfortunately, that's what can happen. They were just two unlucky incidents that unfortunately I was in the middle of."
Collie, 25, summarily dismissed any speculation he thought long and hard about walking away from the NFL. His wife, Brooke, presented him with a son, Nash, the week before he suffered the concussion against Jacksonville.
"I don't think for me there really was a decision," said Collie, a 2009 fourth-round draft pick who has earned $1.14 million in his first two seasons and has a 2011 base salary of $480,000. "I didn't even entertain the thought of not coming back. I think the media made their own stories as far as what I was going to do.
"But I always knew I was going to come back."
Brooke was on board.
"I don't even think she asked for an explanation," Collie said. "I think she was on the same page as far as me just resting up and getting back out there this next season."
In his first two seasons, Collie has 118 receptions, 1,325 yards and 15 touchdowns in 24 regular-season games.
"The offseason has been very intense and we're working hard," he said. "I'm just trying to get back in the rhythm with Peyton and the guys and get back in the rhythm of practice-type situations, so that when we do get that call, I'm ready to go."
<H3>Collie's statistics with Colts</H3>
<TABLE rules=all width="100%" border=0 =>
<T>
<TR>
<TD>Year</TD>
<TD>Rec</TD>
<TD>Yards</TD>
<TD>Avg.</TD>
<TD>TDs</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>2009</TD>
<TD>60</TD>
<TD>676</TD>
<TD>11.3</TD>
<TD>7</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>2010</TD>
<TD>58</TD>
<TD>649</TD>
<TD>11.2</TD>
<TD>8</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Totals</TD>
<TD>118</TD>
<TD>1,325</TD>
<TD>11.2</TD>
<TD>15</TD></TR></T></TABLE>
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110529/SPORTS03/105290345/1058/SPORTS03
