ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When Nico Collins made the catch, Chris Mills was way down in Alabama.



Mills has been coaching Collins since ninth grade, back when Collins was a lanky basketball player who didn’t realize his own football potential. Now Collins was playing on a big stage, running a skinny post along the left hash, falling and reeling in a Shea Patterson deep ball against Notre Dame.



Mills was Collins’ position coach at Clay-Chalkville High School near Birmingham, Alabama, and he keeps in touch with Collins and many of his former players. He says he texted Collins’ father right after the completion. But Mills takes pride in having his receivers block and do all the little things, so something else stood out even more.



“I was more excited watching him block corners out there,” Mills said. “He took a kid about 3 yards into their own sideline. I think he knocked over a little water girl standing over...