“Against all odds,” Nico Collins’ story was not similar to many other league players. His family had to boil water to bathe for weeks, as they often didn’t have hot water. Even Collins’ Christmas days were lean, as he hardly received any surprises or gifts. But all these hardships and financial constraints didn’t stop him from achieving what he wanted. Today, Collins is one of the significant parts of Houston Texans, who helps the quarterback CJ Stroud in scoring touchdowns. And his father is nothing but extremely proud of him!

“It wasn’t always smooth, and I feel that’s what made me.” Collins, who was the third child of father Don Collins and an unnamed mother, was born on March 19, 1999, at Pinson, Alabama, United States. Both parents poured in their lives to earn every dollar they could for the family. Even Don, who was from the city of Birmingham, worked for countless night shifts as a surgical tech for many years.

Imagine how he and his children would have felt when they had only a limited time to meet their father before going to school in the morning. Besides Don; by profession, Collins’ mother too worked for bread and butter in the human resources department. But one thing was great about the family! According to the wide receiver, all these struggles “made the entire family tighter.”

Despite their low-income, his parents supported Collins in his football journey. They even tried to make their kids’ Christmas days special by buying them one present each. However, they weren’t successful all the time, as the children had to celebrate the day without any gift. But the kids never complained, and everyone adapted to it.

The couple, especially his dad, always encouraged their kids to achieve more and more. It was his dad who got him into football at an early age. And it’s because of Don and Collins’ mother’s efforts and sacrifices that forced the player to always “level up,” whenever he played basketball for a point or played running back on his youth football team. All he wanted was “to take care of his family.” And as he rightly highlighted in his Instagram post of 2022, “Don’t rush what God is taking time to prepare,” he too waited, and the right time came for him!

The road to success has begun for Nico Collins!

DeMeco Ryans is growing weary of answering the same question – “When did you realize Nico Collins could be a star?” For the Texans’ head coach, this isn’t just a routine inquiry, it’s a reminder of how far Collins has come. The question definitely irks him for sure due to its repetition, but Ryans never changes his answer, no matter what!

When the Texans reached the playoffs last time, the HC replied to that same question, “I’ve constantly talked about Nico and the plays he’s made, and that hasn’t changed since OTAs. I know I keep saying that and everybody is probably looking at me like, ‘Oh, you guys don’t have receivers.’ Like, Nico has been doing this since OTAs and training camp, and it hasn’t changed. His mindset hasn’t changed.”

Collins was drafted in 2021. Back in his first two NFL seasons, he had a quiet start, with just “70 catches, 927 yards, and three touchdowns.” But 2023 has been a breakout year for him. With “80 catches, 1,297 yards, and eight touchdowns,” Collins transformed into a key player for the Texans, pushing them into the playoffs.

And if you ask about his mindset for the future, Collins will reply: “When I go out there and work hard, I feel like I can be one of the top receivers. I don’t see why not. I feel like that’s a mindset you’ve got to have as a wideout. I got that dawg mentality.”

And for this mindset, all the credit goes to Collins’ parents, who never quitted from their hardships. Instead, they helped their children learn from it for an extraordinary future!