Here's how Hillcrest football's Collin Dunn love of animals and family helps him perform

Hillcrest linebacker Collin Dunn was 4 years old when he learned a valuable lesson. His grandfather, former Tuscaloosa police assistant chief Ronnie Dunn, woke Collin early in the morning and took him fishing for the first time.

“I didn't like it at first because you're on a bunch of water, and you just got to sit there and wait,” Collin said. “But, that really did teach me a lot of patience with a lot of stuff, and that’s why I just continue to fish ,because it taught me a lot from a young age.”

The taste of the open waters pushed the three-star linebacker to explore other hobbies like hunting. The “happiest moment of his life” came when he killed a deer with a .243 Winchester rifle on his first hunting trip with his grandad in Eutaw, Alabama.

“I remember shooting, but I really couldn’t see if I hit or not,” Collin said. “So, I'm just constantly asking and asking, ‘Did I hit? Did I hit? Did I hit?’ (Ronnie) said, ‘Yes, just trust it.’ I remember us walking down to the field, and the deer was just right there.”

Collin’s love for animals started at a young age, so his parents, Ron and Felicia Dunn, bought ant farms and tools for him. Collin would dig in ant beds and adored when it rained because of how big they got.

“Anything you want to know about an ant or any animal, he can tell you,” Felicia said. “He's always been fascinated with animals. He loved wolves even in kindergarten. He used to make all these howling sounds and tell people he was a wolf.”

Dunn is No. 4 on The Tuscaloosa News' inaugural Fab 5 -- a collection of the area's top college football prospects from the Class of 2023 as picked by the newspaper.

Collin’s patience and animal-loving paved the way for him to commit to Kansas State football in June and to major in animal sciences and industry. He is the No. 41 recruit in Alabama in the class of 2023, according to the 247Sports Composite, and he selected the Wildcats over 10 other schools. At 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, he is a versatile athlete who has played basketball and multiple football positions throughout high school.

Collin credits his family for motivating him to continue to pursue football. Ron says there was only one time where Collin told him he wanted to quit football.

“One morning, he brought me outside to work out, and I said I was done playing football because I’m young, and it was early in the morning,” Collin said.

Ron woke up a grade-school Collin at 8 a.m. for workouts in their backyard before a game at 1 p.m. In the humid heat, Collin dealt with soreness that irritated him and left him fed up.

“I got him to the point, which I tried to get him to, and he cracked that day,” Ron said. “I told him, ‘Football is something you got to want to do.’ That sport there, can’t nobody make you do it.”

Collin played that day with his little league team, the Central Falcons, and changed his mind.

“I had a really big game,” Collin said. “(My dad) asked me, ‘You sure you done?’ I said, ‘No sir. I’m going to keep on going.’”

Collin losing his great-grandmother and grandmother also pushed him to grow. His great-grandmother kept him the first two years of his life and checked on him throughout, while he and his grandmother were inseparable.

“Because of his closeness with both, it was kind of difficult for him to lose two grandparents within two months a part of each other,” Felicia said. “He's not a very emotional person, but he's a caring person.”

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Collin carries these experiences with him to Hillcrest.

“You literally couldn't ask for a better person,” Hillcrest football coach Jamie Mitchell said. “I told every coach that recruited that dude, ‘Here's the deal about him. He is a great football player, but he might be a better person than he is player.’ He is a super kid to be around and super respectful.”

Hillcrest quarterback and childhood friend Ethan Crawford characterized Collin as a “hidden character” and “kind of sneaky.” Dunn looks to have a good time in the locker room and out with friends.

“He's actually pretty comical off the field,” said Hillcrest outside linebackers coach Trent Williams, who coached Dunn on the Hillcrest junior team in the West Alabama Youth Football Association. “He likes to cut up, have a good time and joke around. He may crack a joke on somebody beside him or flip their hat off their head and act like he didn't do it.”

When Collin isn’t making plays and having fun with family and friends, he is probably doing what he loves best: fishing, hunting or learning about new animals.

Hillcrest opens its season at home against Pike Road on Aug. 19.

Derrian Carter is a sports reporting intern for the Tuscaloosa News. Contact him at DCarter@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @DerrianCarter00.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Hillcrest linebacker Collin Dunn has passion for animals and football