Cris Collinsworth - College Career

College Career

Collinsworth's exceptional height and quickness attracted the attention of college football coaches throughout the South. He received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Doug Dickey and coach Charley Pell's Florida Gators football teams from 1977 to 1980. He was recruited as a quarterback by Doug Dickey's staff and in his first game as a Gator, Collinsworth threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Gaffney against the Rice Owls, which remains tied for the longest touchdown pass in NCAA history.

He later switched to wide receiver as the Gators transitioned from a run-oriented option offense to an offensive scheme that employed more passing. As a Gator wide receiver, he was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection in 1978, 1979 and 1980, and a first-team All-American, a first-team Academic All-American, and a team captain in 1980. During his career at Florida, he caught 120 passes for 1,937 yards and fourteen touchdowns, while also scoring two rushing touchdowns and one on a kickoff return.

As a senior in 1980, Collinsworth was a member of the Gators team that posted the biggest one-year turnaround in the history of NCAA Division I football—from 0–10–1 in 1979 to an 8–4 bowl team in 1980.

While he was an undergraduate, Collinsworth was also an active member of the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity (Florida Alpha Omega Chapter), and was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame. He graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1981, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1991.