Giant Coaches Are Impressed With the Kind of Coaching He Had at Cal State Fullerton : Collins Surviving Rookie Trials

Oh, the trials and tribulations of being a rookie in the National Football League.

Consider the plight of Mark Collins, a second-round draft choice of the New York Giants, playing for a good team in a high-profile area. So far he has impressed his coaches, turned in good performances as a defensive back during the exhibition season and even returned punts and kickoffs.

One of those returns was a startler, 97 yards for a touchdown with the opening kickoff in last Saturday’s 20-16 win over the New York Jets.

Collins came to the Giants with impressive credentials. He is the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.’s all-time interception leader with 20 and was the 1985 PCAA Defensive Player of the Year.

But despite all that, Collins is worried about making the team.

“It’s just my nature,” Collins said by phone from East Rutherford, N.J., where the Giants are preparing for Friday’s exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“I’m going to worry about making the team right up until the season starts. Sometimes what coaches tell you is different from what they say in their coaches meetings.”

Well here’s a tip, Mark: You’re not only going to make the team; you’ve got a good chance of starting before long.

That comes straight from the Giants’ mouth, as it were.

Said Len Fontes, Giant defensive backfield coach: “We keep seven backs and right now he’s No. 5, with potential to move up from there. We’re keeping him all right.”

Fontes, a former defensive back at Ohio State, apparently knows a good thing when he sees it.

“What Mark has going for him are that first, he’s a natural, gifted athlete, and second, he had just excellent coaching in college,” Fontes said.

“I don’t know who coached him out there (at Fullerton), but he did a super job with Mark. Rookies usually don’t come in as far along as he is now. I scouted Mark at the Senior Bowl last year and I saw right there he had what it takes to be a pro back.”

Steve Hall is the defensive coordinator at Fullerton and has coached the defensive backfield the past three seasons. Said Gene Murphy, Cal State Fullerton head coach, of Collins’ contributions to the 1985 Titan squad: “He was doing everything except selling popcorn and putting the flag up before the game.”

Regardless of whether he starts at cornerback, Collins is in good position to be the premier kick returner for the Giants this season, even though he did not return kickoffs at Fullerton.

“Early in training camp, I just asked if I could try returning some kicks,” Collins said. “They said OK. In our first game, against Atlanta, I almost broke one but they brought me down after 40 yards or so.

“Then last week (against the Jets), once I got past the first wall, I knew I was gone. Got tired around the 20-yard line or so, but I made it.”

Said Fontes: “That was the first kick we’ve had returned for a touchdown since the 1960s, I think. There are coaches who’ve been here 8-10 years and none of them remember a return for a touchdown (by a Giant). People were excited when he did that.”

Off the field, Collins stays busy trying to put his four-inch-thick playbook to memory. He hasn’t had much free time for the celebrated New York night life.

“There’ll be time for all of that later,” he said. “Right now I’m still learning all of our various defensive formations. It’s complicated and it takes time.

“The biggest adjustment from college to pro is in reading the quarterbacks. In the pros, they have stronger arms and will look one way but throw another. In college, most of the quarterbacks will throw the same way that they look.

“If you cover your zone, you should do OK.”

Times staff writer Jim McCurdie contributed to this story.