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College Football

Alex Collins reveals Irish dance as his footwork secret

Jessi Lee

By Jessi Lee

Published:

Football players at the college and professional level do some out-of-the-box workouts to fine tune their skills. But former Hogs RB Alex Collins has outdone himself.

“[Collins] has got more unique interests and diversification of what he likes,” said Doug Gatewood, Collins’ high school football coach. “Right now–and it’s weird how he gets into things–but right now he is all hooked up into Irish dance.”

It all started as Collins doing a favor for Gatewood.

Collins returned to South Florida to prepare for the NFL combine, and while he was there, he offered to give Gatewood’s daughter a ride to Irish dance practice.

He reportedly stayed to watch the practice, and his curiosity got him hooked.

“It’s conditioning,” Collins said. “[The other dancers] laugh at me because they don’t break a sweat. And just from the warm ups I’m already tired, shirt soaked. I bring a beach towel to keep drying off when I go.”

But oddly enough, this wasn’t Collins’ first encounter with Irish dance.

It looks like the star running back changed his tune.

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