By: Alan Walker

Before finding a passion for basketball, Marcus Collins began his collegiate career playing quarterback for the Westfield State University football team his freshman year.

Cambridge native Marcus Collins is a graduate student at Westfield State University and is using his last year of basketball eligibility. Coming into the 2019 season, Collins averaged 13.9 points a game and earned MASCAC All-Second Team honors for the second straight year.

“Earning these awards make me want to go harder, because I never settle and there’s nothing more I want than having that MASCAC Conference Championship.”

Marcus Collins was born October 5th, 1997 in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he went to high school at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School. He played 3 sports in high school: basketball, football, and volleyball, which made him a multi-talented athlete. That ability transferred to the collegiate level as he has played 2 sports since he has been at Westfield State University. At his alma mater, Collins was a captain for all 3 of his sports and received All-Conference team honors for volleyball and football.

Collins was recruited to play quarterback for The Westfield State Owls and he only played his freshman year. When I asked Collins “What made you switch to basketball?” his answer was “I honestly missed basketball my freshman year, and I messed up my shoulder while playing football, so I had to change my position from QB”.

Since switching to basketball, Collins has had a remarkable career having back to back seasons with MASCAC 1st Team All-Conference averaging 15.4 points per game 2017-2018 season and 14 points per game last season. I asked Collins “What’s your favorite aspect of the game?” and he replied “Honestly, competing at a high level every night.”

There is no doubt that Marcus Collins is a good player, but it took hard work and dedication to perform the way he performs every night on the hardwood. I asked Collins “Since your sophomore year playing basketball, what have you worked on the most up until now?” Collins told me “I definitely had to work on my jump shot and free throws because back then, I wasn’t as consistent and I knew that in order for me to be a great player, I had to be consistent at those aspects of the game, and so I took the time to perfect my craft”

Collins reached his 1,000th point on the collegiate level this recently against Eastern Nazarene with Westfield winning 104-86 points. Collins finished with 21 points reaching that goal before the half was over. When asking Collins “How did you feel getting your 1,000th point?” he replied and said he was “relieved to get it done with so I can just focus on winning and not worry about scoring.” 1,000 points is an achievement that athletes from all over the world dream of getting. Hard work and dedication is needed when athletes want to become great, and that’s what Marcus Collins has become: great. The countless workout sessions he was put through and the early gym workouts are all things that make a good player turn into a great player.

Marcus Collins just set his name in the record books with setting his 1,000th point because not every athlete is willing to sacrifice their body night in and night out and that’s what separated Collins from the pack. There’s a saying “What you put in is what you get out of it” and Collins put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to where he is today.

Last season, the Westfield State Owls lost to Salem State in the MASCAC Conference Championship 66-57 and it’s been on the Owl’s minds since the day it happened. Collins says that “There’s nothing I want more than that Conference Championship in my hands because that’s what I work hard for, what we work hard for”.

The Westfield State Owls are 7-4 in non MASCAC games beating the 3rd ranked team in the nation Amherst College 68-67. The Owl’s first Conference game is Saturday January 11th at the Woodward Center against the Framingham Rams at 2pm.