It was short, but the college career for Anthony Collins at Kansas was productive.

He excelled playing left offensive tackle for a team that nearly played for the national title in 2007. Having just one year of football experience under his belt when he enrolled at the university, he would go on to start in two of his three campaigns with the Jayhawks, lining up at right tackle during his sophomore campaign.

With his recent success on the college gridiron, Collins decided to leave Kansas for the professional ranks, applying for the 2008 NFL Draft. "I'm done with KU," Collins said in early January. "I loved every minute of it. I enjoyed my time here. I enjoyed working under coach {Mark} Mangino. I felt like there was nothing else to prove. I felt like I need to get better at the next level."

Collins said he hopes to be a first- or second-round pick, and is thrilled about joining KU junior Aqib Talib in declaring early for the NFL Draft. He said leaving early wasn't a hard decision for him.

At Beaumont Central High School, Collins played just one season of varsity football. As a senior, he started at strong-side defensive end. He earned Class 4A All-District and All-State honors, helping Central to a regional championship. He was also named to the Super Gold Team in 2003.

Collins turned down scholarship offers from McNeese State, Southern University, Iowa State and Houston, enrolling at Kansas in 2004. He did not play that season, working as a defensive lineman on the scout team. Collins shifted to the offensive line prior to the 2005 season, appearing in eight games behind Matt Thompson at right tackle. He earned his first career start at that position vs. Missouri.

As a sophomore, Collins took over right offensive tackle duties. He helped the offense average 374.2 yards per game, as he earned Associated Press All-Big Twelve Conference honorable mention. He averaged 5.33 knockdown blocks (64 total) per game while playing in 12 games.

In 2007, Collins shifted to left tackle. He was a finalist for the Outland Trophy and garnered consensus All-American first-team accolades, despite sitting out the first series of the Toledo game due to a disciplinary issue and missing the Iowa State game with a right ankle sprain. He delivered 108 knockdowns with 15 touchdown-resulting blocks for an offense that generated 479.8 yards per game.

Positives: Has a big frame with the potential to add more bulk with no loss of quickness. … Possesses broad shoulders, good arm length and adequate overall strength with above-average initial quickness for his position. … Has a wide waist and hips with good lower-body thickness. … Shows good balance and arm rise and extension coming out of his stance to quickly hook the defender on drive blocks. … Has adequate change-of-direction agility, but does a good job of dropping his weight and keeping his pads low in order to bend at the knees better (this allows him to create, hold lanes and anchor with good consistency). … Good competitor who hustles back to protect the pocket and while he does not put away defenders with tremendous force (gets stalemated when he gets too tall in his stance), he works hard to finish. … Has good preparation skills and is a solid worker in the training room. … Capable of handling the mental aspect of the game and showed marked improvement the second half of 2007 in attempts to chip to the second level. … Has the strength to sit down and anchor. … Is not a mauler, but he is effective at creating and holding a wide crease for the ground game. … Shows good hand punch on the rise, gaining movement off the line while staying low in his stance. … When he maintains his wide-leg base to sustain blocks and keep his feet moving, he can properly wall off and seal when pulling for the ground game. … Will generally come off his blocks with good hand placement (does short arm). … When he plays the game flat-footed, he has enough short-area quickness needed to get to the second level. … Better blocking in-line than sliding in pass protection (gets a little lead-footed in his retreat), but when he uses proper knee bend in pass protection, he is more effective in attempts to mirror the defender. … Has good pop on contact with his hands and can surprise a defender with a heavy punch. … Uses his size well to wall off and is showing better confidence in his feet when trying to gain position. … When he keeps his feet underneath him, he is effective setting up to protect the edge. … Shows good arm extension to make reach blocks, but will sometimes lunge and overextend. … More of a position blocker, but can get good movement on drive blocks. … Does not have the brute strength to overpower, but plays with good balance and control to cut off and readjust to in-line moves. … Flashes better aggression blocking in-line and delivers a hand punch into the defender's chest consistently. … Has the big, flexible hands to lock on, steer and control. … Keeps a good base and even when he overextends, he can recover. … Does a good job of keeping his feet moving after initial contact. … Will sometimes drop his hands to reload, but with his long arms, he is quick to recover. … Shows better punch than catch in pass protection and while he looks a bit sluggish redirecting, he has good balance and anchor when he keeps his weight forward and plays flat-footed.

Negatives: Has good straight-line quickness out of his stance, but needs to refine his footwork, as he is too inconsistent with his kick slide to get back and mirror edge rushers (has a tendency to get up on his toes in pass protection, as the more physical defenders capitalize on this to rock him back on his heels). … Might be a better fit at right tackle or inside at guard, as he lacks the hip snap and lateral movement to get out in front and impact block for perimeter runs. … Has a decent hand punch, but will sometimes revert to "short arming" and needs to be consistent with his arm extension and hand placement in attempts to sustain and finish his blocks. … Because of his adequate lateral agility, he has problems when defenders cross his face. … Though he can make downfield blocks, his lumbering running style makes him best at the point of attack, widening the rush lane rather than on pulls and traps. … Loses some steam late in games and will revert to bending at the waist, causing him to narrow his base and struggle to maintain contact with defenders. … Needs to improve his angles on the move, as he does not always locate his target when working in space. … Slow at times to generate pop coming out of his stance, as he does not always get his weight out in front of him. … Susceptible to spin moves and counters when he is slow to set his feet. … When he gets too high in his stance, he can be rocked back on his heels when trying to prevent the bull rush, but does regain his anchor. … Has had relative success facing smaller defenders, but in his last 23 games, his opponents have had a serious weight disadvantage vs. him (his main blocking assignment averaged less that 258 pounds and he faced only three defensive ends that weighed over 280 during that span). … Had his two worst performances in 2007 after being named an All-American, but he was also battling an ankle injury. … Was suspended briefly for disciplinary issues early in the season.

Compares To: JOE STALEY-San Francisco. … Collins has good straight-line speed and is an efficient drive blocker, but does need technique work as a pass blocker. He is alert to twists and games and shows good urgency widening the rush lane. His timed speed fails to translate when asked to get into the second level, as his base narrows and he takes poor angles stalking linebackers. Even though he had good success on the left side, he is not ready to be exposed on an island at the next level and will be better on the right side with help from a guard and tight end. While he will be an early pick due to his athletic ability, he is not ready for primetime and would have benefited from another year of college ball, considering he has started just two seasons on the offensive line and has a total of just four seasons of organized football under his belt.

2007: Suffered a right ankle sprain vs. Oklahoma State (11/10), missing the next game vs. Iowa State (11/17). … Returned vs. Missouri (11/24), but re-injured his ankle.

Campus: 4.96 in the 40-yard dash. … 340-pound bench press. … 510-pound squat. … 330-pound power clean. … 26-inch vertical jump. … 34-inch arm length. … 9 5/8-inch hands.

Attended Beaumont (Tex.) Central High School, playing just one season of varsity football for head coach David Suggs. … As a senior, he started all year at strong-side defensive end, earning Class 4A All-District and All-State honors. … Helped Central to a regional champion-ship and was also named to the Super Gold Team in 2003.

African-American Studies major. … Son of Rhoda Goodman and Harolid Collins. … Resides in Beaumont, Texas.