“He called me over and said I wasn’t going to do anything, “ Collins said. “That I was just a little freshman.”
This pregame jawing took place before the North Carolina football team’s 47-20 loss to Miami Saturday, between Johnson, Miami’s speedy junior running back and a top ACC rusher, and Collins, UNC’s true freshman linebacker.
The tunnel of Sun Life Stadium serves as the perfect battleground for trash talk. Both teams enter the field through this passage at the same time, though most stadiums have teams take different routes to the field to avoid confrontation.
It was near the tunnel after the game where Collins did his best to downplay the seemingly heated exchange.
“It was a lot of things that was said that I wouldn’t repeat,” he said. “The coaches separated us, but it was nothing too serious.”
We’ll never know the words Collins used as a rebuttal to Johnson’s comments. But there’s an apparent sense that Collins knew his play on the field had to do the talking. And, it did.
Collins scooped up a fumble from Miami quarterback Brad Kaaya in the second quarter, taking the ball 39 yards to the end zone for UNC’s first touchdown of the game.
But Johnson’s actions spoke louder than his words, early and often. By the time Collins marched to the end zone for his first career touchdown, Johnson already had a rushing touchdown of his own. By the end of the afternoon, the Miami running back would have 226 total yards of offense, one receiving touchdown and two rushing touchdowns, including a 90-yarder just before halftime — the longest run UNC has allowed in program history.
