Alabama Football: Recruit Landon Collins Wins SPARQ MVP, Can Saban Land Him?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) There are some high school recruits out there that everyone would love to have. Landon Collins is one of those. He could be the best safety on your team, he could be a great linebacker, he's quite a good running back, he's a scary threat when used as a receiver and he could even be a great cornerback.

That's because he's got the speed, hip work, quick feet, size and sheer brutality to any of these jobs and do them all very well.

Saban wants him as the next great SEC safety and that's a role that's just fine with Collins.

Collins is 6'0'', 210 pounder with tons of national attention focused on him now that he was the MVP of the July 2011 SPARQ Rating National Championship at "The Opening" at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. SPARQ stands for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness. It is a gathering of the nation's best and elite recruits and measures these feats and ability and gives them a "SPARQ" rating.

Collins won the MVP rating with a quick 4.5 time in the 40, a 4.44 in the twenty yard shuttle agility run, 4.44 in the kneeling power ball throw and a ridiculous 43.6 inches in the standing vertical jump, the absolute best of the field. Nobody else could even get over 41 inches. His overall SPARQ score was 131.1.

The best score was 146.52 by Daje' Johnson, but Collins sixth place finish, two ahead of fellow potential Alabama recruit Dillon Lee, earned Johnson the MVP honors.

That freakish leaping ability means a quarterback will almost have an impossible job of throwing it over Collins' reach and is one of the reasons Saban wants him so bad. He could be beat and still leap to slap the ball away.

He was timed there with a 4.42 40 yard dash on the final event of the night though, so it's highly unlikely that he could ever be beat.

He has the speed of the fastest receiver, leaps like a basketball star, hits like linebacker and has moves like a star running back once he gets his hands on the ball. He finished last year with 102 tackles and four interceptions.

Saban's job could be tougher than a receiver tying to beat Collins deep though.

Although Alabama is one of Collins favorite teams, his home state team LSU is the other. Most feel that at this point, Collins, a five star recruit and the nation's number two overall safety prospect, is leaning slightly toward LSU. He also lists Tennessee, Florida and Texas as his other schools.

Landon will not make a decision or pare down his list until he has finished with his visits.

When he does visit however, he is sure to pal around with fellow Dutchtown High School star Eddie Lacy, who comes from the same hometown and high school as Collins.

They will have a little more to talk about when they meet as Collins' team needs some help on offense and he plans on taking on that role at Lacy's old spot at least 12 to 18 times a game in addition to keeping his duties as safety.

That should make watching the Dutchmen's games this year a little more interesting and may just send even more schools down to Louisiana to woo him.