"At age 37, Kerry Collins is a cattle rancher, a father to a first-grader, a husband, an NFL quarterback (still!) and an occasional writer of country music.

Everyone in the Carolinas should now be able to agree on something Collins is not - a quitter.

In his 16th NFL season - he and the Carolina Panthers debuted together in 1995 - Collins will visit his first NFL city Saturday night as his Tennessee Titans play the Panthers in an exhibition.

I talked to Collins by phone earlier this week, and as we spoke I kept flashing back to his days in Charlotte. When you hear his name, maybe the same thing happens to you.

Anyone who has been a Panthers fan since the beginning has memories of Collins, who was the team's primary quarterback from 1995 to 1998 before he flamed out.

What does Collins think about when he comes to Charlotte now?

"My memories of Charlotte are mostly pleasant ones," Collins said. "I don't think there's anything that went on in Charlotte that I harbor any resentment about. I made my share of mistakes, for sure, when I was there."

Collins still comes to North Carolina a good bit. His wife, the former Brooke Isenhour, is from Concord. The two met at a George Strait concert at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2000, married in 2002 and now have a six-year-old daughter. The family splits time between Nashville and Troy, N.C., where Collins owns a 1,580-acre working cattle ranch.

The cattle ranch is named "Blue Q" because of Collins' profession. The "Q" stands for quarterback. The "Blue" symbolizes the fact that the three teams Collins is most associated with in the NFL - the Panthers, Titans and New York Giants - had some shade of blue as a primary uniform color."