Regret, lost time, squandered talent, and wasted money.
That’s what former Miami Dolphins running back Cecil “The Diesel” Collins thinks about these days while incarcerated in a Florida prison.
He’s serving a 15-year sentence for felony burglary after admitting that he broke into the home of a sleeping married woman that he casually knew from the gym.
The 32-year-old is due to be released in 2014, and he outlined his cautionary tale to Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“I’d like to get out and work with kids,” Collins said. “I’ve got something to tell them. I’m a walking example of what can happen to a guy who has all the talent in the world and doesn’t use his head.”
All of his money is gone, Collins said. He blew it on cars, clothes and clubs.
“I never had any in my life and then it was raining on me,” Collins said. “I was making the minimum. What was it, $290,000, maybe $300,000? I don’t remember what my paycheck was. I just know I spent it all.”
Collins has gotten married since being convicted with the ceremony conducted in the visiting room at the prison.
“We still haven’t been on the street together,” Collins says. “But she knows me, the real me. I’ve changed so much from when I was 23. Back then, I was a young man who didn’t know himself.
“I didn’t realize what I had. Now I’m more mature. I analyze. I think. I thank God I didn’t do something so stupid I got a life sentence.”
Collins’ mistakes, which included transgressions at LSU and McNeese State, have taken away his freedom and his football career.
Now, Collins would like to restart his life on the outside. And he’d like for someone to keep his story in mind and avoid imitating the troubled life that he created.
All I’m sure of is that you need to run stories upon his release to forewarn the community when he gets out. the sex offenders can’t ever be rehabilitated, and he’ll strike again.
Everyone in prison always comes to an “epiphany.”
cecil is full of sh*t, he is only mad that he got caught, dude is a flat out crazy thug.
Man this guy was such a piece of shit.
I really hope he has turned his life around and can do something useful when he gets out of prison.
At the same time, if he gets out and ends up right back in there I won’t be even mildly surprised.
And as for “all the talent in the world”….I think that is some revisionist history on his part. Yeah, he made it to the NFL, but so what? I think I was actually drafted at one point as a running back for JJ’s Dolphins.
Why does everyone coming out of prison want to be with children??
Don’t we have enough of these kind of guys out there now?
easy to call a guy a P.O.S. when you’re an regular middle/upper class dude commenting on a blog. he had mad talent and could have been something. it’s a shame he didn’t have a mentor to get his head straight before he entered the NFL. glad he’s thinking about things beyond his crazy long prison sentence.
Maybe he can speak at the Rookie Symposium in 2015…… I wonder if Percy Harvin will be there?
He’d like to work with kids?
Hey – that sound great. Every parent will jump at a chance to have their kids work closely with former inmates. Where can I sign my children up?!
halen11 , you don’t need a “mentor” to know not to do the dumb shit he was doing.
a mentor was going to keep him from following the chick home from the gym and trying to do God knows what?
These kind of people never change, and it’s documented…they always strike again.
I hope he can be the exception to the rule, but I wouldn’t want any women or children I know living anywhere near him.
What a waste. I remember playing this guy in high school (and getting into a brawl with his team, lol) and he was AMAZING. I had never seen a guy play like him in high school. He was great for the (I think) 1 year he was at LSU. He really could have been a good RB in the NFL. It’s really to bad that he was such a douche.
He was very talented. And he flashed that talent during his only season with the Dolphins. So yeah, he had the goods.
And this stuff about him being a danger to women and children isn’t necessarily accurate either. What actually happened in 1999 is different than what some people seem to think. He got a pretty harsh deal in the end. But he’s a better man for it.
Is he a sex offender? Says he’s a burglar (apparently not too good at it either), doesn’t say anything about sex. Any prior convictions?
problem is, muck, prison isnt the kind of place where ones works out one’s problems. rehab is nice, but most guys are put away to promote public safety. it’s always been that way.
prisoners easily develop more problems in the can. then take them out on innocent people when they get out.
it’s actually pretty damned accurate.
so quit trying to snow everybody.
“BvHawkeye says:
July 12, 2009 7:17 AM
Is he a sex offender? Says he’s a burglar (apparently not too good at it either), doesn’t say anything about sex. Any prior convictions?”
His “burglaries” all involved breaking into women’s apartments, and not taking anything.
When he was caught red-handed by the final woman’s husband or boyfriend, he said he “just wanted to watch her sleep.”
He may not have committed an actual sex offense at that point….but he damn well was going to.
15 years… somewhere, Donte Stallworth is laughing