The Austin College Kangaroos were already facing a tough challenge at home last Saturday against No. 19 Centre. The ‘Roos had jumped out to an early 13-0 lead in the first quarter but had seen their Southern Athletic Association foe close the lead to 13-10 heading into halftime.

The challenge became much larger for the ‘Roos in the middle of the third quarter. Meeting those challenges is a big reason why Austin College earned small college Team of the Week honors on a record-setting day.

“About midway through the third quarter, we had lost all our corners,” said Austin College head coach Loren Dawson. “We had some freshman, but they were scout team guys, so we were doing some major shuffling on defense.”

With defensive coordinator Mike Silva trying to prepare his defensive players for new positions on the sideline, Silva also sought a little help from the offense.

“We tried to get first downs in a methodical way to burn some clock and give him (Silva) some time to get a couple of players coached up on playing a new position and shorten the game as much as we could.”

The offense did their part to help as the ‘Roos worked a methodical 13-play 93-yard drive capped by a nine-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Colt Collins to Josh Lockhart on fourth down. The drive took 5:31 off the clock and gave the ‘Roos a 20-10 lead.

Austin College faced more adversity after Centre took the ball on a 10-play drive into the 'Roos' red zone. Centre completed a third down pass, but Regan Wilkins tackled the receiver just four yards short of the end zone to force a field goal. 

On the next drive, Austin college punted to give Centre the ball with 3:23 remaining and a chance to tie the game. With 50 seconds left, the Austin College defense faced 2nd-and-goal at the one-yard line. 

Centre handed the ball off on second down, but the 'Roos stuffed him for a one-yard loss. The same happened again on third down, pushing ranked Centre College back to the 4-yard line and setting up a game-deciding fourth down play. 

Centre's quarterback dropped back to throw on fourth down, needing a touchdown to tie the game. He threw it, but freshman defensive back Jassan Carey stepped up and broke up the pass to end the game. Austin College came away victorious 20-13. 

“Jassan came in and made a huge play as a freshman. We’ve only had him for a month or six weeks, but he’s always got a smile on his face and plays hard and tries to get better,” said Dawson. “He came in as a corner and he got moved to safety because we needed more safeties and he got moved back to corner in the third quarter.

“Coach Silva is a very talented football coach, but his greatest gift is that he’s able to get his players on defense to believe in each other and believe in him. They’re never going to blink and they’re going to keep fighting until the end. The defense had two big stands and the offense had a big drive and we had said all week that we needed to get the game to the fourth quarter and then find a way to win.:

Linebacker Keegan Nichols made multiple big plays for the ‘Roos defense during the game. Nichols leads the team with 31 tackles, including nine tackles for loss, and earned SAA defensive Player of the Week honors for his week two performance.

“We knew that he was special when we recruited Keegan and we knew that he was going to play a lot of snaps for us,” said Dawson. “He’s as good a person as he is a football player and he’s a very talented football player.”

However, there is one player on the team who is the undeniable team leader and that player etched his name into the Austin College record books on Saturday.

A Legendary Record

The ‘Roos starting quarterback Colt Collins set a record early in the game last Saturday that few Austin College faithful thought they would ever see broken. Collins set the school’s career record for most total yards of offense – a record that was set by another former Austin College quarterback, Bo Miller, in 1960.

Miller left an indelible mark on Austin College and each year the ‘Roos honor the legacy of Miller by awarding one athlete with, “The Charles Bo Miller Scholar/Athlete Award.”

“Bo Miller was an incredible man. I had the pleasure of being around him multiple times and he was just an unbelievable human being,” said Dawson.

When Collins arrived on campus in 2016, it seemed unlikely that he would eventually break a 59-year old program record. He was still on the scout team without a true position halfway through his freshman season. Collins only got a shot at quarterback after losing three quarterbacks in a two-game period. He threw for 200 yards, ran for 98 yards and had four total touchdowns in his first start, a 30-28 win over Texas Lutheran. The job has been his ever since. 

Collins currently has 4,940 career passing yards, 1,377 career rushing yards and 50 touchdowns in his outstanding career.

“He’s very blessed athletically but he works very hard,” said Dawson on his senior leader. “He’s going to be a coach and he’ll be coaching somewhere next fall. I’m fortunate to be his position coach and he approaches the game from a coaches’ point of view.”

For all his accomplishments and success, Dawson says that his signal-caller’s greatest asset is his work ethic and his leadership ability.

“He’s developed his football ability and he’s still getting better in terms of taking care of the football but he’s definitely the leader of this team,” said Dawson.