Young has great resource close by in Collins

Posted by ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky

NASHVILLE -- A young quarterback enduring growing pains, who has said more than once he's considered giving up football, has access to the best resource the NFL has to offer on such matters.

Kerry Collins' locker is right besides Vince Young's.

I may have made Collins a bit uncomfortable Wednesday as part of a group interview when I asked him if he had thought of quitting back in 1998 when he was a Carolina Panther, a kid still struggling to figure out life as an NFL quarterback.

But he spoke about what he's been through and how he might help Young because of it.

First let's look back.

To be clear, I'm not in any way suggesting alcohol has any role in what's going on with Young. It was an issue that Collins had to address. Young has his own issues -- they may be no more complicated than immaturity -- and he's entitled to keep them private.

At the Giants' first press availability in Tampa when they arrived for Super Bowl XXXV, Collins addressed his past head on, earning instant respect from football reporters who'd come from all over the country.

I was one of them, and a lot of the story was new to me. It wasn't new to my ESPN.com colleague Pat Yasinskas, who covered the Panthers for the Charlotte Observer at the time.

Here's the top of the story he wrote off that press conference:

TAMPA, Fla. -- Under the intense spotlight that is the Super Bowl, the quarterback of the New York Giants stepped to the podium and talked about his dark days with the Carolina Panthers.

It had to be done, Kerry Collins said.

Collins, who was drafted by the Panthers in 1995 and took them to the NFC Championship Game a year later, said alcohol was the root of his problems in Charlotte.

"Alcohol caused me to act in an erratic way and there were certain personal issues, some family issues that I needed to address," he said. "As everybody saw in those years, the confusion, the angst, the anger that I was experiencing at that time, came to the fore. Alcohol fueled it. I was described as a lost soul at one time and I definitely think that was the case."

For more than 30 minutes Monday night, Collins talked about circumstances that left him labeled a drunk, a racist and a quitter and prompted the Panthers to release their first draft pick. He said he wanted to address the topic at length early in the week so he could focus on football as Sunday's Super Bowl XXXV gets closer.

Answering dozens of questions without ducking any, Collins talked about his departure from the Panthers, the events that led to it, his rehabilitation for alcohol abuse and the resurrection of his career with the Giants.

He was released early in the 1998 season. Former coach Dom Capers said Collins asked out of the lineup and said his heart no longer was in the game. Collins told a different story of the meeting and said his intent was not to quit.

"I never wanted to quit on that team," he said. "If I wanted to quit, I certainly would not be standing here today. But I will say this, I was at a time in my life where I was confused about a lot of things. Some of those issues may have been responsible for some of the things I said in that meeting."
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It's a story that should be required reading for Vince Young, and for every young, high-profile quarterback in the NFL.

The sad thing is, Young hasn't heard that story.

Asked if he's shared it, Collins said: "I have not. But certainly I would be a good resource for him. I was a young guy who played a lot, had success early and did some things that, looking back probably weren't the right things to do. But I learned from it. I think that's the most important thing, as is it in life: You make mistakes, you learn from it and you move on."

Collins is low-key, and hasn't pushed his story in Young's face.

Young doesn't have to talk to Collins about it, and it doesn't make him a bad person if he

But Jeff Fisher said Wednesday that as Young rehabilitates his knee, "he has to put some things back in perspective."

Maybe taking Collins out for lunch could help him do that. What advice would Collins offer?
"Understand that there are just certain things that come along with playing this position," said the quarterback who will start his 163rd game Sunday in Cincinnati. "There are just certain things that are part of it, unique to any position that's on the field. And the sooner you can realize that and accept it, I think the more you can get past some of those things ...

"He's not alone in this process. It's hard when you play young and go through things.

There is a certain amount of maturity that we all have to come up with, that we all have to develop. Vince will be back, we all know he'll be back, and I believe he'll be stronger than ever... You feel alone, you really do. If there is one thing I've tried to tell Vince, it's that he's not alone. I've been through it, I've been through a lot of things that he has gone through. I think I could be a good resource for him."


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