Safety Landon Collins near NFL dream – but his mom maintains he should've gone to LSU instead of Alabama

CHICAGO – Much has changed for her son in three years.

But Landon Collins' mom has certainly not changed her mind.

April Justin launched herself into football fame in 2012 when she sat next to her son on national television and showed disapproval of her son's choice of college. While Landon announced "Roll Tide" with a grin, Justin shook her head slightly and then declared LSU was the best school for her son. Then she raised her index finger in a No. 1 gesture for the Tigers.

Fast-forward three years and April and her son were in the Palmer House here on Thursday, the first day of the NFL draft. Surely mom would have rescinded her opinion by now, with Landon on the doorstep of his dream?

Nope.

"I definitely wish he went to LSU," Justin said while getting a manicure in the Pantene Salon in the hours leading up to the draft. "He would have still achieved his goals."

Justin said she went most of the last three years without wearing Alabama colors, and only recently started speaking to head coach Nick Saban. Only now are things "cordial" between them.

"We didn't have a relationship," she said. "I'm not a big fan. I'm a Les [Miles] fan."

Asked to elaborate, Justin said, "Nick is more about football – I deal with the players, not the family; Les is more about the family."

She also claimed LSU players give back to the community after leaving school more than Alabama players do, and that it's very important her son do the same. She insisted there's no disrespect for Saban, saying, "He does things the right way for his program." But still: "I see no reason we need to actually speak."

So even though Collins is destined for the NFL, even after slipping out of the first round where many expected him to be drafted, that doesn't lessen his mother's belief one bit. In fact, she says that if it wasn't for Vinnie Sunseri's injury two seasons ago, which allowed Collins to take over at strong safety, he might still be in school despite her wishes to be NFL-ready after three years.

And as for the national title her son won?

"What is a championship going to do for his career?" she asked.

Meanwhile, in the next room, Landon is still surprised his mom reacted like she did in 2012.

"I wanted to commit during my sophomore year [of high school]," he said while sitting in a barber's chair in the Gillette lounge. "She thought my mind would change. I told her two weeks before [the decision] I was going to 'Bama. She said, 'OK.' Then we get there and everything changes. I was like, 'What's going on?! We talked about this already!' "

This rift has not caused a rift in their relationship. The two, brought closer by going through Hurricane Katrina 10 years ago this summer, are still very close. Collins says he remembers "everything," including 25 family members huddled in a three-bedroom New Orleans house. He remembers how the Meals Ready to Eat were "so disgusting" but bearable because there was no sense of when the next real meal would come. He remembers his dad's house being "split in half" by the storm, and how most of the family fled two hours north. When he started his new school, he says, "everybody stared at us."

A decade later, Collins is bound for the NFL. And he's thought more than a few times about what it would be like to play a professional game in the Superdome, where so many went for cover and safety during Katrina's landing and horrible aftermath.

"That would be crazy," he said Thursday afternoon. "Amazing."

But think again if you believe his mom has wanted Landon to land with the Saints. She's been cheering for her son to be picked by the Miami Dolphins to be closer to her younger son, Gerald Willis III, who is now at Miami after being dismissed by Florida.

(And yes, she was also disappointed Gerald didn't go to LSU.)

"Landon has made me commute back and forth for four years," she said. "Then he got a dog. Everything I told him not to do, he does!"

Then she allowed a smile. April Justin has always prided herself on her independent streak. Now she sees how that same trait has led her son to greatness.

"I guess I'm kinda happy he hasn't listened to me."