CEDAR FALLS — Four months ago, Ian Collins won the high jump competition at the Hawkeye Invite indoor track meet, clearing 6-11 on his first attempt.
It was tied for the seventh best performance in the Big Ten during the 2023 track and field indoor season though Collins competed unattached in his redshirt season.
Around the same time, the former Charles City superstar made a realization.
“I realized that track just was not for me,” Collins said. “I decided to stick it out. Give it a chance. I wanted to see if maybe I actually really will like it and enjoy it. I decided I did not enjoy it.”
Despite winning two Class 3A high jump championships in 2021 and 2022, a long jump title in 2022 and earning All-State honors three times, Collins’ made the decision to enter the transfer portal on May 8 and make the switch back to a different sport—football.
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“I miss playing football,” Collins said. “I did not want to go down the road 10 years and regret it. Like, ‘Dang! I wish I would have played football. I wish I would have made a different choice.’”
Collins played quarterback for the Comets in his senior season, amassing 850 total yards with nine touchdowns. Despite playing quarterback, Collins lined up at running back and wide receiver for the Comets and played wide receiver in his junior season.
According to Collins, he ended up at Iowa, competing as a member of the Hawkeyes track and field program due to his own indecisiveness in high school.
“The signing period in high school is February for football,” Collins said. “I was still undecided at that time. Then, it came to be graduation, I said ‘Well, I cannot play football anymore.’ So, I decided to run track. I started running track in college and realized it was not for me.”
After making the realization that he wanted to play football, Collins did not believe a move back to the gridiron would be possible, but a conversation with Charles City head football coach Bryan Bjorklund changed his mind.
Collins said, after he entered the portal, Bjorklund reached out to the coaches at Northern Iowa, who took interest in the versatile athlete during his prep days, and got Collins in contact with the Panthers.
Collins committed to UNI on May 23—15 days after entering the portal—as a member of the Panthers’ football team.
“They gave me the opportunity,” Collins said. “So, I decided to run with it.”
Collins said that he will start his career at UNI as a wide receiver though, as he showed in high school, he is ready for whatever the Panthers ask of him.
“I want to be the best football player I can be,” Collins said. “I want to win football games. So, whatever I can do to help the team win. That is how I was in high school. I played all the positions because I just wanted to win. We were not always successful at that, but I always tried to do my part.”
“However they see me fitting in, that is how I will play.”
