The football player, now an offensive lineman for the Storm at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, mimics his 9-year-old expression, which is up there on the billboard next to a more recent photo.

Now, a decade later, Collin is a college athlete, playing football for Lake Eerie College, an NCAA Div. II program in Painseville, Ohio. Now weighing 330 lbs and standing at 6′1, the East Orange ...