Oakland Raiders 1998 First Rounder Mo Collins Dead at 38

It is a tragic day in the Raider Nation as a former player who was a member of the 2002 AFC Championship team has passed away. 1998 23rd overall selection Mo Collins has passed away with complications due to kidney failure, ending a life that saw Collins reach heights in the NFL with Oakland before becoming a high school football coach in North Carolina recently until his untimely death.

According to reports, Collins was receiving dialysis treatments for kidney failure, leaving behind a high school football program he was helping rebuild after attending the school before his college and then NFL career.

Collins was a National Champion at Florida and was on the 2002 Super Bowl team. However his greatest contribution in life or football may have been returning to his former high school to help rebuild a program that went winless the year before he returned. Collins helped get turf installed at the school and was helping turn the lives of his players around with football.

“West Charlotte is where it all started,” he said before the season according to ProFootballTalk . “You hear how bad it is and what’s happening. All you hear is negative things. I wanted to find out what it was myself. When I got in there, these were still kids and they deserve some positive people to see and be around, especially people their color.

“Me coming back was saying, ‘I care about you.’ I’m not doing it for money or status, by no means. I’m not trying to stay relevant. I have a job to show them what it is to be a man, to have a strong work ethic. Instead of me donating money – and money is always good for a program – but giving these boys this type of attention and male leadership, I think, I hope, will be invaluable to them.”

Collins, a great man who exemplified giving back to the game, will be missed. Just Blog Baby sends our condolences to the Collins family.