PG Collins picks Bulls

Posted Mar 26, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Mar 26, 2011 at 07:08 PM

The University of South Florida men’s basketball team picked up a verbal commitment Saturday from Anthony Collins, a point guard out of Westbury Christian in Houston, Texas.

Collins, rated a 3-star recruit by Rivals.com, was recruited by several Division I programs, among them TCU, Texas Tech, USC, Hawaii, Nebraska and Minnesota. He’d recently narrowed his choices to USF and Baylor and ultimately chose the Bulls over the in-state Bears.

“I thought it was a good place for me. It’s a good coaching staff. It’s a place where I can expand my game and play my game, and it’s a good school where I can get an education also,” said Collins, who said he struggled a bit with the decision to choose a program roughly 15 hours from home over one roughly three hours away. “Yeah, I was really struggling with that. But then my family told me they would come out and see me, and then it wasn’t really a factor. After they said that, I stopped thinking about it.”

Collins, 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds, was a four-year starter at Westbury Christian and enjoyed plenty of success during his prep career. In addition to finishing as the program’s all-time leader in assists, Collins earned first team all-state honors in each of his final three seasons and helped the Wildcats win TAPPS Class 4A state titles as a sophomore and junior and reach the state championship game as a senior.

The Bulls success certainly hasn’t been on that level, but Collins is hoping he can help change that.

“The main goal I want is to just win and to help turn around the program, and I think it’s possible with all the pieces we’re going to have,” Collins said.

Collins will be eligible to sign a National Letter of Intent with USF on April 13, but the Bulls don’t have an available scholarship at the moment. USF coach Stan Heath used both available scholarships during the early period in signing 6-foot-10, 285 pound junior college center Andre Jackson and 7-foot-3, 291-pound prep center Jordan Omogbehin, so Heath is anticipating at least one scholarship player from the Bulls 2010-11 roster won’t be returning to the program.