The Best Michigan Player From: Alabama

Marcus Knight is from Alabama (so is Max Martin) but already the best player Michigan has ever signed from the Yellowhammer State is WR Nico Collins.

Michigan doesn't have an extensive history recruiting in the state of Alabama, signing just six total prospects, beginning with wide receiver Marcus Knight in 1996. Since then, U-M has signed RB Max Martin in 2004, DB Keith Washington in 2015, RB Kingston Davis in 2016, and both WR Nico Collins and DB J'Marick Woods in 2017.

It's been a series of misses for the Wolverines, save the bookend wide receivers. Knight finished with 81 receptions for 1,433 yards and eight touchdowns, including a career-high 766 yards and six scores in 1999. 

Presently, Knight, from Sylacauga, ranks 31st all time at Michigan in receptions (two spots ahead of Collins) and 26th in receiving yards (also two spots ahead of Collins).

Knight did play two seasons in the NFL, returning eight kickoffs for 143 yards in the Oakland Raiders' Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay in Feb. 2003.  

The 6-4, 222-pound Collins, from Birmingham, hasn't had big seasons (compared to Michigan receiver legends), with a career-high 38 catches in 2018 and a career-best 729 yards in 2019, but he's poised to become just the 15th Wolverine in school history with 2,000 career yards (he needs 612). He needs only 22 receptions to hit 100 and should move into U-M's Top 20 (it would take just 36 grabs). 

He also could be just the sixth Wolverine ever with 20 career TDs, needing seven (the number he had in 2019) to get there. 

These are all modest numbers. It's certainly possible with better quarterback play and a consistently aggressive play-calling that Collins could put up monster stats - in the 13 seasons of Michigan's 1,000 yard receivers, those targets averaged 75 catches and 1,123 yards. 

Collins has it in him to put up that type of production, which would land him in the Top 10 for career catches, Top 5 for receiving yards and Top 5 for touchdowns.  

Of course, the way the receivers have been utilized during the Jim Harbaugh era, that's a big "if." Still, with just a repeat of his last two seasons, Collins will have the numbers to rank among Michigan's second tier of all-time best receivers and solidify himself as the best to hail from Alabama.