May 2, 2012

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford senior offensive lineman Joe Collins has been named to the 2012 National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF announced on Wednesday.

Collins, who was also named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team in the fall, has maintained a high grade-point average throughout his time at Samford, majoring in sports medicine. Collins, who transferred to Samford from Copiah-Lincoln Community College, has been a member of the Samford Dean's List each semester he has been in school at Samford.

On the field, Collins started all 11 games on the offensive line for the Bulldogs as a senior in 2011. The Bulldogs posted the program's first winning season since 2008, finishing with a record of 6-5 overall and 4-4 in Southern Conference play.

In his first season at Samford in 2010, Collins started seven games, missing four games due to injury.

Collins is originally from Madison, Miss., and he attended Madison Central High School where he was named first-team All-District. At Copiah-Lincoln, Collins started every game for two years, and he was named to the Player's Committee by his teammates.

The NFF Hampshire Honor Society is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college career. A total of 721 players from 232 schools qualified for membership in the society's sixth year, marking this year's class as the largest since the program's creation in 2007.