University of Hawaii football receiver Dylan Collie has played in front of 110,222 opposing fans.

He knocked on strangers’ doors for two years as part of a church mission in Richmond, Va.

But only Savannah Ellison could make Collie’s legs turn to Jell-O.

“I was too scared to talk to her,” Collie said. “She’s beautifully intimidating.”

But mother knew best. “My mom said, ‘You need to go after her,’” Collie recalled. “My mom’s generally right when it comes to that stuff. She was spot-on with that one.”

They were married on New Year’s Eve.

“I knew I was going to marry her the first time I saw her,” said Collie, who first met her when they were in high school. “And now, we have a beautiful life out here in Hawaii.”

Life is indeed good for Collie, who is third among UH receivers with seven catches in two games. Last year, he endured a difficult period in which he dropped five consecutive passes. This year, he has not had a drop in the nine passes on which he was the intended receiver.

Collie thought physical breakdowns caused last year’s drops. He thought he could work his way out of the slump with extra post-practice reps with the JUGS machine. Instead, he eventually realized, his problems stemmed from a lack of focus.

“Mental was the largest part,” Collie said. “I’ve been catching balls since I was able to walk. That wasn’t a problem. My physical ability to catch a ball wasn’t the problem. The problem was where I was mentally, and that was in the gutter.”

He said he worked on making the plays he could, and not dwelling on mistakes.

“I didn’t know how to handle it,” Collie said of last year’s problems. “Now it’s a matter of embracing failure and accepting those opportunities to grow and learn. When you do that, there’s not much sorrow and depression. It’s a little bit more excitement and gratefulness for the next opportunity I’ll have.”

Nick Rolovich, who was hired as UH head coach in November, said Collie’s pass- catching skills were apparent.

“He didn’t get a scholarship to play football at Division I because he couldn’t catch a ball,” Rolovich said. “I’m sure there are some technique things and hand-placement things that you can rep out and coach. … But Dylan has a great want — almost a great need — to be the best football player he can be. He will look for any solution to improve. It’s always the little things.”

Collie said: “I can’t control a lot of things. I can’t control situations. What I can control is the way I play and how I do my job and how I catch the ball. If I can take advantage of those opportunities and think of those things as positive things, and then learn to bounce back from negatives, I’ll be a happy camper.”