Matt Collison played a lot of hockey growing up in Scarborough, Ontario, but he knew from the moment he first watched Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse as a kid that he wanted to play lacrosse at Homewood Field.
Collison went on to do just that, turning a dream into a reality. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound midfielder scored 100 goals and dished out 47 assists in 64 games from 2023-2026, helping lead his team to three double-digit win seasons along the way. He will now look to achieve that same success with the Premier Lacrosse League’s Philadelphia Waterdogs.
“As an individual player, the stats are what the stats are, and I’ve done what I’ve done, where the team and I had some success,” Collison said. “But overall, I want to be remembered as a good guy and teammate, someone who had his boys’ backs and someone who they were comfortable going to whenever they needed anything. I just want everyone to know that I gave Johns Hopkins all I had and did things the right way.”
Collison’s introduction to lacrosse came at a young age, around 4 or 5 years old. He and childhood friend Mark Watters, who plays for Penn State, grew up playing for the Toronto Beaches, a box lacrosse club close to Collison’s hometown in Ontario.
As Collison got older, he branched out into travel lacrosse. He played for Edge Lacrosse, which helps develop Canadian lacrosse players on their journeys toward college scholarships. Collison said his time with Edge “exposed him more to American lacrosse,” and he credited that experience with heightening “his awareness of where his game could take him.”
But Collison didn’t focus full time on lacrosse until he attended St. Michael’s College School in Toronto. Collison believed his lacrosse skill set had only improved as he had gotten older, so the choice to focus on lacrosse was simple. He didn’t look back.
Collison was ranked as the No. 27 prospect in the 2022 recruiting class by Inside Lacrosse. He was approached by many schools, but when Johns Hopkins expressed interest, Collison knew what his decision would be.
“When Hopkins called, I kind of looked to my parents and said it might be time to wrap this thing up,” said Collison, who committed to the Blue Jays in September 2020.
Peter Milliman had been hired by Hopkins as its new men’s lacrosse coach in April 2020. Then-assistant John Grant Jr., a Canadian lacrosse legend, made the first contact with Collison.
“When Coach Junior called, I knew that this was what I wanted to do, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is really happening,'” Collison said. “Then later, I was able to talk to my eventual head coach, Peter Milliman, and get the details locked up and got a chance to talk to the rest of the staff and loved everyone.”
Collison was familiar with the Blue Jays program when he first came in as a freshman, with hometown friends Johnathan Peshko and Jakson Raposo already on the team. He didn’t waste any time making an impact in Year 1, and he continued to produce through his senior season in 2026.
Collison not only stuffed the stat sheet but piled up impressive accolades along the way, becoming the first Hopkins player since Paul Rabil to earn USILA All-America honors in his freshman, sophomore and junior years.
Collison earned first-team USILA All-America honors in 2026 after collecting 30 goals and 16 assists en route to a quarterfinals appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
How did Collison grow from Year 1 to Year 4 at Johns Hopkins and develop into the dominant offensive playmaking midfielder that he is today?
“I think that I’ve always been a pretty skilled and talented player. That’s never really been my downfall,” Collison said. “I feel that during high school, I relied a lot on skill and talent as opposed to at Hopkins, where I learned how to work hard — what that was — play smarter and expand different aspects of my game.”
Collison also credited Hopkins strength and conditioning coach Jay Dyer, who helped him establish a mindset in his first year of maximizing his potential, especially given his size and skill.
“The discipline and regimen that we go through every day, the attention to detail and the urgency of obtaining success was extremely prevalent over my four years,” said Collison, who majored in political science and minored in marketing and communications as well as entrepreneurship and management.
Even though it’s bittersweet for Collison that his time at Hopkins has come to an end, a new, exciting chapter is opening up for him in pro lacrosse. Collison was selected by Philadelphia in the second round of the 2026 PLL College Draft.
Collison said it was strange to balance his focus on Hopkins’ season with his excitement to talk to various PLL general managers and coaches in the lead-up to April’s draft. He is looking forward to working with Waterdogs head coach Bill Tierney and assistants Louie DeDonatis and Dylan Sheridan this summer.
“I’m so grateful for every team that reached out and spoke to me and for the PLL to allow me to play in the league,” Collison said. “Obviously, I’m thankful most importantly to Coach Tierney and Coach Sheridan, who are taking a chance on me and bringing me into Philly. I couldn’t be more excited to get a chance to compete. I’m ready to do whatever they need me to do.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics
Originally published June 24, 2026