South Elgin’s Collier, who says ‘I feel like I can do it all,’ stars at receiver, cornerback and safety

With the number of roles Semaj Collier handles for South Elgin, it’s hard for him to pick a favorite.

The junior standout plays both cornerback and safety on defense. He’s also active in the return game and has emerged as the team’s leading receiver through five games for the Storm.

He feels like he doesn’t need to pick one thing.

“I feel like I can do it all,” Collier said. “I’ve been doing it ever since I was a kid.”

Indeed, Collier has been filling up the stat sheet for South Elgin (4-1, 3-0).

He’s leading the team with 21 catches for 304 yards, including three touchdowns. He’s made 10 tackles with an interception and a fumble recovery and has scored a defensive TD. He also has four kickoff returns for 118 yards and a 16-yard punt return.

“He brings extreme value in all phases,” South Elgin coach Pat Pistorio said of Collier. “He understands the importance of special teams and the return game. He loves to mix it up.

“His blocking, he’s doing a really nice job with that.”

Pistorio saw that value going into last year. Instead of letting him light up the sophomore level, he called Collier up to varsity in a reserve role with an eye toward his final two seasons.

“It allowed him to understand this year he would reap the benefits from that,” Pistorio said. “His maturity and ability to move up and understand how important it was for the team to be up here even though he wasn’t the showcase guy, he really grew up and understood why we needed him.”

In order to get through that season playing in the background, he leaned on seniors like current Miami tight end Gavin Mueller. It’s helped mold him into the player he is now, on and off the field.

“I just took his leadership,” Collier said of Mueller. “I took everything he said to me, be a leader, and tried to put it in my own words and express it in a way to help my team.

“I trained after practice with the seniors and they taught me a lot.”

With several sophomores on the roster this season, Pistorio confirmed Collier is trying to pass that wisdom on, considering he knows the position they are in now.

“He’s taken a few of them under his wing to kind of share the message and vision,” Pistorio said. “Like, ‘Hey man, let’s get through this year and battle and practice and show coach so next year could be our year.’

“We’re trying to get out ahead of the cycle instead of waiting until senior year to have a good showing.”

At the same time, Pistorio has no qualms about putting Collier on the field for almost every play.

“He can kind of do it all,” Pistorio said. “His football IQ is really high. He’s a local community kid and his youth coaches did a great job with him. He’s easy to coach and fun to be around.

“And the kids look up to him too.”

Senior quarterback Carter McDonald, who is splitting reps with sophomore Oliver Johnston, knew somebody would emerge as the Storm’s leading receiver. He’s not surprised to see it’s Collier.

“Semaj is hard to stop,” McDonald said. “They have to put two people over him. He’s a fast and shifty guy. It takes more than one guy to bring him down, especially with how fast he is.”

With an eye toward eventually playing Division I football; Collier is just getting started.

“I just try to enjoy the moment as best I can,” Collier said. “There’s way more to come.”