While Overlea High in Baltimore has never been a powerhouse, they usually play competitive football and challenge for a playoff spot every year. But last season, under third-year coach Chris Fallon, the team went just 3-7. Fallon stepped down earlier this spring and is now a defensive backs coach at Johns Hopkins.

His departure left Overlea scrambling for a replacement. They chose a young, energetic assistant from Aberdeen High named Craig Rollins, who was officially hired in early May.

Rollins attended Abington High, which is located in football-rich Pennsylvania. He starred on the defense line at Abington before going on to play defensive end for Westchester (Pa.) University. He won a conference championship at Westchester in 1999.

After graduating, Rollins returned to his high school alma mater where he coached the defensive line and tight ends. Two years later he left for a rival school in Pennsylvania, Wissickhon, to coach wide receivers and linebackers.

A year later he came down to Baltimore and served as defensive coordinator under Milford Mill coach Reggie White from 2003-2006. Collins, who was on White's staff when they won the regional championship in 2005, called his three-year stint at Milford his "most influential period."

But Collins left Milford after the 2006 season to become an associate head coach at Aberdeen High in Harford County. After three seasons there, he was hired at Overlea.

Last week MdHigh publisher Dave Lomonico spoke with Collins about his first head coaching position.

Oh, yes sir! I've been involved in football since I was eight years old. This is what I do, this is what I love. I'm very excited about the opportunity and I feel blessed that I get to work with these young men. Hopefully I can help them develop as people and get this program back to winning.

They liked where I want to take this program. I think they were sold with how I planned to go beyond the Xs and Os. I want to get these kids on track as people as well as football players. We're talking academics, graduating, going to college and instilling discipline and respect -- things of that nature.

Yes. First of all, we want to mold these young men and get them to college. That's always first. And then after that we want to win some football games and get back to the playoffs.

I feel like, as a coach, you have to invest yourself completely in the program … Once you do that, everything else will fall into place in terms of grades and football.

For academics, we're going to have progress reports and mandatory study hall. And each coach on my staff is going to be responsible for a group of 20 kids; they will keep in contact with their teachers and make sure they're doing all their work. We want to make sure these guys are eligible and heading in the right direction.

For football, I'm talking about getting these kids in the weight room, getting them out to 7-on-7s, being available for the kids, going to camps.

When you do all of that - invest yourself -- the kids will start to respond and invest themselves in the program.

I think when you have change - a complete coaching turnover -- it's always a challenge because you're changing the culture. You're changing the routine, the offense, the defense, the philosophy. It takes a full year for the kids to get adjusted to that transition. In that sense, I don't think it makes too much of a difference whether you come in in the winter or on August 15.

Well, that's always a worry. But we've had 45 kids in the weight room pretty much every day. The kids have been excited about the change and the new direction.

It would've been good to get in here earlier, but we're still going to be able to put in a good 2.5 months of hard work. So by the time two-a-days start we should be fine.

The biggest challenge is getting the kids to completely buy in to my philosophy. Because I came in so late and it is my first year, it's not going to be easy to get everyone on board with what I'm trying to do. That first year of transition is always difficult.

I'm in-between, but if you had to pinpoint it, just say, 'I'm energy.' Coach Reggie White over at Milford Mill always had a lot of energy and that's where I get in from. I'm here every day, I'm the first one in and the last to leave. I love football - been playing since I was 8 - and I think that rubs off when I'm with the kids. When you have that energy, the kids feed off of it.

In terms of how I treat the players, I think I am approachable and kids can relate to me. I'm young, I played the game, I know the game and I know what the kids are going through.

But at the same time I will hold them accountable. I'm not afraid to be [a disciplinarian].

We met back in May in the school's gym.. I introduced myself and my staff and I think it definitely went well. The assistant principal was there, the trainer was there, the AD was there and some of the staff and administration were there, too. They were all excited.

And the kids responded real well. They were all smiling and asking a bunch of questions. They wanted to know about new jerseys, Senior Night, the schedule, 7on7s, things like that. That told me the kids were interested and ready to move forward.

I don't know specifics about Coach Fallon; they didn't tell me anything about that.

But when I was at Milford under Coach White I remember playing them in 2005 and they were real tough. They've always had athletes and had a great program under coach Keith Robinson, who is at Perry Hall now. He had those kids believing, he had them graduating and he had them winning.

That's what we want to get back to.

Coach White was my mentor. He has so much experience and knows so much about the game. I learned a lot from him, from how to run a defense to how to handle myself as a coach.

Milford Mill is the model, the prototype. When Coach White first got the job there he went 1-9; the facilities weren't great and they really struggled. But by instilling discipline and getting the kids to buy into his vision, he built the program up into a yearly contender.

And he did all of that with limited resources - they had one squat rack! Here at Overlea I have four squat racks (laughs), so I have more than enough to do what I've got to do.

Oh, definitely. We have a young man named Steven Varner who is going to play fullback and inside linebacker for me; he did real well at some of these combines. Then we have Sunny Stevens who will play free safety and wide receiver. He's very enthusiastic and will really help us out catching the football. Then we have Montice Birden who is very, very explosive at running back.

They lost a lot from last year, including the quarterback and a bunch of linemen. We only have like six returning starters from last year. It will be a young team. But we should be OK because we have some good athletes here.

We'd like to be .500 and maybe a little above. It's all going to depend on how quickly the kids can pick up the playbook and how hard they work the rest of this offseason. But I'm definitely excited. We have some talent.