Update: Florida's Alex Collins Signs National Letter of Intent with Razorbacks

Update (February 7):
Alex Collins has signed his national letter of intent to play football at the University of Arkansas.

The five-star tailback made it official this afternoon in South Florida.

With his signature, Collins, ranked as the No. 1 running back in the country by 247Sports.com, became the 23rd member of head coach Bret Bielema's first signing class at Arkansas.

"Alex is a great addition to this class," Coach Bielema said. "He is an upstanding young man who has impressed us throughout our time getting to know him, and he focused on making a decision that was the best for him athletically, academically and socially. He has high character and is a student-athlete we are thrilled to bring into our family. He made it clear to us that he truly wanted to be a Razorback, which is what we want from everyone we sign. Our goal was to add two running backs in this class to help us with numbers at the position, and Alex was a priority for his on-field impact and the person he is off the field. We have coaches on our staff with tremendous relationships in South Florida that have been crucial for us in this class, and we will continue to establish Arkansas as a choice for top student-athletes from that area. I am looking forward to having this class become part of our family and watching them grow over the next several years."
 
Alex Collins
RB, 5-11, 207, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (South Plantation HS)
Collins was ranked as the No. 1 running back in the country, No. 5 prospect in Florida and No. 17 overall in the nation by 247Sports.com. He was tabbed as the No. 3 running back in the nation by Scout.com and as the No. 20 overall prospect in Florida and No. 13 running back in the country by Rivals.com. He rushed for 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior despite missing three games due to injury, helping South Plantation to nine wins, the district title and a berth in the 8A state playoffs. Following his senior season, he was selected to play in the Simper Fidelis All-American Bowl, where he was teammates with fellow UA signee Austin Allen. He was named Broward County Player of the Year as a junior after rushing for 1,786 yards and 28 touchdowns as the Paladins earned seven victories and qualified for the state playoffs. He was coached at Plantation by Doug Gatewood. Collins picked Arkansas over Miami, Florida State, Florida and Wisconsin.

Original story (February 6):
Just when you'd thought you heard it all...

ESPN reports the mother of one of Arkansas' top prospects confiscated his letter of intent moments before he was set to publicly sign it and ship it off to Fayetteville.

South Plantation High (Fla.) running back Alex Collins had to cancel his scheduled news conference.

According to the NBC station in Miami, Collins had been recruited by the University of Miami, Florida State, Florida and Wisconsin. He verbally committed to Arkansas earlier this week.

ESPN reports his mother doesn't want him to leave South Florida.

"She's having anxiety," Collins' older brother Johnny told the Miami Herald Wednesday afternoon. "I know she preferred him to go to UM. Alex had said he was going to the U, and then all of a sudden he changes his mind. We found out he was going to Arkansas on TV."

Collins told NBC 6 in Miami that he will instead sign a letter of intent to Arkansas tomorrow.

Collins is 57th on the ESPN 150 list of top prospects, the 7th-ranked running back on the list.