Former New England Patriot Tony Collins achieved his dream of playing in the NFL, but found himself on the sidelines after making a series of poor choices.

For almost 20 years after being cut, he said negativity consumed him, until he found his calling.

“I always thought my purpose in life was to play in the NFL and make a lot of money, and that was part of it,” Collins said. “But my purpose in life was to speak to you. It's all about the choices you make.”

Collins brought his message to a "Meet the Coaches" night held in Wareham High School on Tuesday evening for high school athletes.

During the free 30-minute pep talk, Collins touched on maintaining good grades and respecting parents.

He also told his life story.

Growing up in upstate New York, Collins was one of 16 siblings. When he was nine years old, he told his mom that one day, he would play professional football.

“I told her, ‘I’m going to play in the NFL,’ not knowing what I was doing at the time, but I was bringing my future into the present,” Collins said.

He spent long hours in the yard pretending to play in big games.

“I must have played thousands of Super Bowls in my mind,” he said.

His work paid off and he attended college at East Carolina. As a freshman, he excelled on the field, but struggled in the classroom.

Skipped classes resulted in Collins earning a .7 grade point average, and his coach said unless that changed, he would be cut from the team.

“I thought, ‘They can’t take me off the football field,’” he said.

Motivated to keep playing, he brought his grades up.

“Take that same intensity you have on the baseball diamond, on the track and on the tennis court and bring that intensity to the classroom,” he told students.

In his senior year, Collins attended NFL tryouts.

With 11 credits left before graduation, he dropped out of school to enter the NFL Draft.

The New England Patriots drafted Collins in the second round of the 1981 draft. Soon, he became an All-Pro running back, rushing for 4,647 yards throughout his career with the Patriots.

Trouble started in his fourth year with the team after his ribs were cracked.

“I have a choice now. I can sit out and have another guy take my job or take painkillers and stay on the field,” he said. “I decided to take painkillers.”

A side effect of the painkillers was nausea, which Collins treated with marijuana.

“So now I’m popping pills and smoking marijuana,” he said.

After testing positive in two random drug tests administered by the team, Collins was cut.

He spent some time with other NFL teams, playing for a total of nine years.

But for nearly two decades after his career ended, Collins said there wasn’t much motivating him, until a phone call changed his direction in life.

He found a job speaking to parents of student-athletes. On his first day, he almost walked off the job at lunch. Instead, he returned to his office and picked up a phone ringing at an empty desk.

On the other end was the mother of a young football player. He made an immediate connection with the person on the other end of the phone.

For the next three months, the two would talk.

“I had been this negative guy for so long and she was sending me all this positive stuff,” he said. “It took one person to change my way of thinking.”

He reminded students to stay positive.

“The more right choices you make the more opportunity you receive,” he said.