Mark Byington Gives Final Update on Vanderbilt Basketball Guard Frankie Collins – Sports Illustrated

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LEXINGTON, KY—Vanderbilt guard Frankie Collins will not return this season, Mark Byington said Tuesday. 
Collins hasn’t been with Vanderbilt for a number of weeks and shouldn’t be expected to be around the program any longer.
“Frankie has left Nashville, and he's not gonna be on the team,” Byington said. “It's gonna be good for both sides of it. 
We wish him well. So we'll roll with the guys we got.”
Collins last played in Vanderbilt’s overtime win over Memphis on Dec. 17. The guard has averaged 7.8 points, 4.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game this season. But what Vanderbilt has missed most from Collins is his defensive ability.
In the nine games Collins played this season, he totaled 22 steals, which is 2.4 steals per game. Vanderbilt hasn’t necessarily lost any of its ability to be dynamic offensively without Collins–but his ability to run it through the offense gave it some stability. That stability will have to come from other sources. 
The fifth-year point guard joined the Commodores after a season at TCU, two seasons at Arizona State and a season at Michigan. He averaged 11.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game last season before his injury, which came against Vanderbilt. 
Collins’ meniscus injury had an initial timeline of 4-to-6 weeks and he had been medically cleared around the six week mark. The timeline of the injury had become frustrating to Vanderbilt’s fanbase. 
The context of the reason for Collins’ absence after Vanderbilt’s loss to Oklahoma didn’t matter much to a singular, unidentifiable voice in the stands. Vanderbilt had lost to a bad team and could’ve pulled off a win had it had Collins. That was all the context that fan needed.
“Toughen Up Frankie!” The fan yelled from the stands surrounding the Vanderbilt tunnel.
“Frankie’s still doing his rehab,” Byington said postgame that day after declaring that Collins was cleared a week earlier. “He’s still working. It’s hard to give a timetable. I wish it was closer. It was rehab after surgery they said four to six weeks, and we’re at seven now. So, maybe there’s something there holding him back, but we’re not giving up on him.” 
In the home games following that day, Collins was no longer on the bench with the team and wasn’t spotted inside Memorial Gymnasium.T urns out the optimism that Byington did have at that point was futile.
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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