CORVALLIS - Oregon State junior wide receiver Seth Collins is out indefinitely with an unspecified "health-related issue," the school announced Tuesday.

Collins missed the Beavers' game Saturday against Colorado due to an illness. He greeted teammates as they got off the bus at Reser Stadium prior to kickoff but was not on the sidelines for the game. Collins, a 6-foot-3 slot receiver, was also not at practice Tuesday.

OSU said the health issue is not related to the illness that kept Collins out for the final two games last season, as well as spring practice. Collins said during fall camp he had been on his "deathbed."

If Collins cannot return in 2017, he will be a candidate for a medical redshirt.

Players who are eligible to earn a medical hardship waiver cannot have played more than 30 percent of his team's games. Collins has played three games, 25 percent of the 12-game regular season. The San Diego native missed the first three games of the season with a broken finger.

While OSU did not put a timeline on Collins' return, senior quarterback Darell Garretson indicated one of his top targets could be out the final five games of the year.

"Losing Seth sucks," Garretson said. "I love that kid to death. It brings me a bunch of pain and a lot of emotion thinking about it. Obviously I hope he gets his year back. I think he is going to."

The former quarterback was coming off one of his best games at receiver prior to his most recent health issue. He had five catches for 91 yards during an Oct. 7 loss at USC, which turned out to be Gary Andersen's final game as OSU head coach.

Collins has 12 catches for 130 yards and one touchdown but ranks first for the Beavers with 43.3 receiving yards per game.

"Obviously a very dynamic player that gives you some things in that role in the slot," offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven said. "You got a couple kids in there with Xavier (Hawkins) and Trevon (Bradford) that can do some of those things also. And if we need to, we've been getting into those packages where we've been in those two-back sets and using a running back in that role also. ... We're just going to have to try to be as creative as possible with our personnel."

Without Collins on Saturday, junior Timmy Hernandez had a career-high seven catches for 65 yards.

Garretson credited interim coach Cory Hall for his energy on the sideline Saturday, as the absence of Collins took away the junior's typically fiery on-field and sideline demeanor.

"We're going to miss a guy like Seth no matter what," Garretson said. "But we got to find our own fire if he's not there."

-- Danny Moran