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Donte Moncrief and Kerry Collins to serve as honorary captains for their respective alma maters on December 30
In keeping with its tradition of recognizing notable team alumni, officials announced that Donte Moncrief and Kerry Collins will be honorary captains for their respective alma maters at this year’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between No. 11 Ole Miss and No. 10 Penn State. The two will join the team captains at midfield for the pregame coin toss prior to the 11 am CST kickoff on Saturday, December 30 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Accompanying both honorary captains will also be Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta patients Chance Meadows and Colton Hall.
Former wide receiver Donte Moncrief will represent the No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels. A three-year letterman at Ole Miss from 2011-13, Moncrief had a remarkable collegiate career catching 156 receptions for 2,371 yards and recording 20 touchdowns. Named to the 2013 Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List, Moncrief had three outstanding seasons as a receiver for the Rebels where he still holds records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. In his first year, Moncrief posted freshman records of 31 catches for 454 yards and four touchdowns, garnering Freshman All-America honors. Moncrief followed his first year with a stellar sophomore season, earning All-SEC honors from various media outlets. He hauled in career highs of 66 passes for 979 yards and 10 touchdowns, and notched a career-high game in the Egg Bowl with 173 receiving yards and three touchdowns. In his final season at Ole Miss, Moncrief notched a school record-tying five 100-yard receiving games, including 113 yards on six receptions in the Music City Bowl victory, finishing the year with 59 receptions for 938 yards and six touchdowns. Moncrief then went on to be selected in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. In the NFL, Moncrief played seven total years finishing his career with 205 catches for 2,576 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Representing No. 10 Penn State will be College Football Hall of Fame quarterback Kerry Collins. The former fifth overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft played for the Nittany Lions from 1991-1994, guiding his teams to a 40-9 record and four straight bowl games. The 1994 consensus First Team All-American was awarded with both the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards, in addition to being named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Silver Football Award recipient. During the 1994 season, Collins led Penn State to a perfect 12-0 record, its first-ever Big Ten title and a No. 2 final ranking. Collins still holds single-season school records for completion percentage (66.7) and passing efficiency (172.9) after breaking nine single-season school records during the 1994 campaign while quarterbacking an offense that led the nation in scoring and total offense. Collins finished his collegiate career with 5,304 passing yards and 39 touchdowns, both of which still rank inside the top 10 in school history. Collins was drafted by the Carolina Panthers as their first-ever pick at fifth overall. The two-time Pro Bowl selection played 17 years in the NFL, ranking in the top 20 in NFL history in both career passing yards and completions. Collins was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
Peach Bowl, Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization that operates the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, the Aflac Kickoff Game, the Southern Company Peach Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament, and manages The Dodd Trophy Presented by PNC Bank national coach of the year award. It is the ninth-oldest bowl game in the country and is recognized as college football’s most charitable bowl organization, having donated $62.7 million to organizations in need since 2002.
The Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl is one of the New Year’s Six bowls selected to host the College Football Playoff including a CFP Semifinal every third year and top-ranked teams from around the country in the other two years of each three-year cycle. Over its 55 years, the game has drawn 3.2 million fans in attendance, a total television audience of 232 million viewers on ESPN, delivered $233.1 million in team payouts, and has created $840 million in direct economic impact for Atlanta and Georgia.
