PressBox recently chatted with Johns Hopkins men’s lacrosse junior Matt Collison about the rivalry with Maryland, his favorite thing about Baltimore and more. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound midfielder scored 23 goals and dished out 10 assists in 2024. Collison is a native of Scarborough, Ontario.
PressBox: How did you first become interested in lacrosse?
Matt Collison: Like every other Canadian kid growing up, I played hockey all my life. And then my pops became really close with the then-owner of the Toronto Rock, Brad Waters. Quick shoutout to Brad and his son Mark — one of my best friends growing up, goes to St. Joe’s now. Brad actually introduced [me and my dad] to lacrosse. I think I was 5. I started playing for the Toronto Beaches back home — another shoutout to the Beach. That’s how I got into it and it’s history from there. I ended up quitting hockey in grade 9 to focus on lacrosse and I found myself here at Hopkins.
PB: Who was the biggest influence on your game growing up?
MC: I watched a lot of YouTube. I was a big guy growing up, big guy now. I watched a lot of Sergio Perkovic, Mark Matthews, Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne when he was at Hofstra … anything I can get my hands on, honestly. Whatever worked, I kept working on whatever didn’t.
PB: Why did you choose to go to Johns Hopkins?
MC: Originally, I got recruited by coach John Grant Jr. and being Canadian, that was a big star-struck moment for me. I kind of had to take a step back so I didn’t commit just because of him. Thank God I did because he ended up leaving. But I chose Hopkins just because of the people here and the opportunity the school itself was going to give me after my lacrosse life. It’s the best lacrosse program in history and it’s the best lacrosse program in the country, in my opinion, currently. It’s held to such a high standard at the school itself, being the only Division I sport. I can go on and on about Hopkins, but honestly, it was my dream school growing up. Having them call me honestly a bit later in my process, I was really holding out to see if I was going to hear from Hopkins. I think it was three days later I committed here, so I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity that the coaching staff here has given me.
PB: How were you able to contribute right away as a freshman in 2023?
MC: Coming in, I actually had two really good friends from high school — Jakson Raposo and John Peshko. Off the field, I was pretty comfortable already. I was actually in a situation where I had to [sleep] on their living room floor for the first week because my roommate had COVID and that was still a substantial issue at the time. I integrated with the guys almost immediately really well. That kind of gave me the confidence off the field to be myself and then obviously that trickled on to the practice field, just making plays where I saw [fit. Former assistant John Crawley] put the trust in me to play me as a freshman. When you’re that young, you’re playing with a lot of older guys, especially our team. We had a lot of senior vets, a lot of grad students. Just not trying to push the issue. Play within the offense. If the ball finds you and it’s your time to score, then bury it. But if it doesn’t, then just keep playing in the flow. Don’t try to go and get yours. I credit a lot of that to the coaching staff just having the faith and trust in me — and my teammates as well, putting me in the position to do what I do.
PB: What’s it like to be part of the Hopkins-Maryland rivalry?
MC: The Maryland rivalry, I think it’s second to none. We don’t like those guys, they don’t like us. You go into that game, obviously you’re expecting a hostile environment and you get more than you bargained for every time. It’s the best game of the year for the entire country to watch maybe aside from Army-Navy depending on where you’re from. It’s tough to come up with words. I respect Maryland. I respect what [Terps head coach John Tillman] does over there. They obviously have a fantastic program historically and to date. We love playing against them. We love that hot environment. Me personally, I love being in those situations.
PB: Hopkins hasn’t been to a Final Four since 2015. How is the team planning on breaking through in 2025?
MC: It has been a little while. We know what the outside noise is — we graduated a lot of guys, a lot of goals left the room. But being at a place like Hopkins, we’ve got guys next up on the bench. We’ve got guys you might not necessarily know [as] an outsider, but they’re coming in and they’re ballers, so we’re going to keep playing Hopkins lacrosse. We’re going to continue doing what we do and just priding ourselves on that grit and determination — lunch pail, hard hat, work boots type of team that we’re going to have. We pride ourselves on ground balls, the possession game, the transition game — everything in between the lines in the middle of the field, we’re going to dominate that.
PB: What’s your favorite memory at Hopkins so far?
MC: My first Hopkins-Maryland game was really crazy to me just because as a freshman playing in the game, you don’t really know what you’re getting into until you actually play. Everyone says it’s a crazy game, but you don’t really get to experience that until you actually do. But my favorite memory would probably have to be the UVA game from last year at Klocker. We won, 16-14. That was a huge game for us. We were going in underestimated against them. They’re a phenomenal program. They had phenomenal players on their team — all-time leading goal-scorer Payton Cormier. Connor Shellenberger, he is who he is. But we walked in there not really caring about the outside noise, just focusing on us. Walking away with that win and hanging out with all the alumni after the game, being with everyone, that’s exactly what Hopkins lacrosse is about is community and family. It’s one of the many times I’ve experienced that.
PB: What’s your favorite thing about Baltimore?
MC: Baltimore from the outside, everyone’s a little skeptical of it. But the way that Baltimore respects lacrosse, the way that Baltimore’s almost a community in the sense that we’re so close to other schools and we get to experience almost a college town but in a city. The population of young people, you get to almost feel like you’re in a college town like a Charlottesville or a Chapel Hill but you’re in a big city. You have opportunities to do big-city things, but then you get to share it with all your guys. … It’s honestly crazy to see [the support] on game days. Obviously we get students, fans and whatnot. But the amount of families that come out to support us just because they’re from Baltimore, it’s really special to be a part of. I definitely don’t take any of that for granted.
PB: Who’s your best friend on the team and what’s a story that underscores your friendship?
MC: I’d like to say I’ve got 58 best friends on my team. We’re all really, really close. We spend literally every second of the day with each other in some aspect, either up at the Cordish Lacrosse Center, at our houses, our upperclassman house. But the one guy that I’ve probably known the longest on the team is Eric McDonald, one of my roommates from Sarnia, Ontario. Him and I go back to when we were like 9, 10 years old playing for Team Ontario together, playing Edge Lacrosse, a travel team up in Canada together. Brooks English is another one who I’ve known forever, playing on Team Ontario and playing against each other growing up in the box lacrosse game. As far as best friend or closest friend goes, I’m close with every guy on the team and every other guy is close with everyone else. We are truly a family here. We are our own community. We’re involved in the Hopkins community outside of the Cordish Lacrosse Center [as well]. But I love all my guys like my blood brothers.
PB: Who was a player you looked up to when you first got to Hopkins?
MC: Garrett Degnon is the easy answer for me to say. Garrett is who he is for the program. I think he’s second all-time in goals, but outside of his offensive prowess, he was top five on our team in [ground balls] last year as a sixth-year with a banged-up back, just an old overall body. Hopefully he doesn’t get too mad at me for saying that. But Garrett just did everything the right way. He was one of our captains, but he wasn’t necessarily one of the vocal leaders on the team. Although when he got elected captain, he didn’t change anything about his personality or his leadership style, which a lot of us respected. If you’re a captain and you’re stepping outside of your role or outside of your own personality to be loud or assertive, in my opinion the guys don’t really look to you as you’re being yourself. Garrett really did everything the right way and he did it his way, and I will forever be grateful for being able to play with Garrett. I still obviously talk to him about lacrosse and about life to this day. I actually talked to him [recently] about jobs in Boston because that’s where he’s working right now.
PB: What advice do you have for younger players going through the recruiting process?
MC: I would say just take your time. You’re a 16-year-old kid. You have a lot of grown-ups coming to look at you with a lot of money in their hands saying, “Come to our school, come to our school.” Just take your time. Enjoy the process. If they really want you, they’re going stick around and be there for you and be there for what’s right for you as a person. If they leave, if they pull the string, if they’re trying to put pressure on you to commit, you just have to tell them straight up, “Hey, listen, I’m going to take my time. I’m going to make the right decision for me.” Because it’s not just a four-year decision, it’s a 40-year decision. That’s probably the biggest thing I would say is don’t focus on who it is, focus on who they are outside of lacrosse and then dive into lacrosse because you only play lacrosse for 20 hours a week, eight hours a week in offseason time, so you have to really enjoy the place, enjoy the people. Lacrosse obviously is a big portion of that, but after you figure all that out.
PB: What are your goals for after lacrosse?
MC: After lacrosse, I just want to be known as a great person. I want to work hard for my family. I want to still be in contact with all my teammates who I’ve played with, especially here at Hopkins. I want to a live a grateful, happy life, and Hopkins has put me in a position to be able to achieve that, so that’s what I’m going to do.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Johns Hopkins Athletics