Player Bio

John Martin Collins III was born in 1997 in Layton, Utah. He is the son of Lyria Rissing-Collins, who is retired from the U.S. Air Force, and John Collins Jr., who served in the Navy. The Collins military family traveled a lot during John's youth, having lived in the Virgin Islands, Guam and Turkey. The big forward's nickname is "JC." Collins played high school ball at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida. After his senior season, he was named 2014-15 Florida Class 4A Player of the Year, as well as Player of the Year by the Palm Beach Post, the Sun Sentinel and the Gatorade (Palm Beach). Fans can follow JC on both Twitter and Instagram via @jcollins20_. As a freshman, Collins showed some potential while backing up Devin Thomas. He was fourth on the team with 7.4 points and scored in double digits 13 times. The 6-10 forward put the Demon Deacons on his shoulders in his second season and helped coach Danny Manning to get to the NCAA Tournament for the first time with Wake Forest. The first-team All-ACC player and Most Improved Player for 2016-17 in conference led the team with 19.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. He had 16 double-doubles, including 31 points and 15 rebounds in a loss against Duke at Cameron Indoor in February. The team went 9-9 in ACC play and reached the NCAA Tournament as a member of the First Four. Collins scored 26 points on 9 of 13 from the field and hauled down nine rebounds against Kansas State, but it was not enough to get the Demon Deacons into the Field of 64. After two seasons in Winston-Salem, Collins declared for the 2017 NBA Draft and was selected with the 19th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks.