Western Carolina University

Career: Closed his career in Cullowhee second all-time in program history with 300 career points scored, just two shy of matching record-holder Kirk Roach (1984-87), who was a three-time All-America selection ... Finished his career 48-of-55 (87.3%) on field goals, third in WCU's career record books behind Roach (71, 1984-87) and Dean Biasucci (57, 1980-83) for successful FGs while connecting on a school-record 87.5% of his career attempts … Was a six-time SoCon Special Teams Player of the Week … Holds the WCU school record for most consecutive successful PATs at 85 straight.
 
2023 (Redshirt Senior): Played in all 11 of the team’s games, primarily handling the placekicking duties … Finished the year 14-of-15 (93.3%) on field goals … Kicked three or more PATs eight times during the high-scoring 2023 season including a career-best 11 PATs in WCU’s 77-21 win over Charleston Southern (Sept. 23) … Posted double-digit points four times in 2023 including 12 against nationally-ranked Samford (Sept. 9) and 10 points at Chattanooga (Oct. 7) including the game-winning walk-off 32-yard field goal … Led the team and the Southern Conference with 93 points scored, posting 51 points on PATs and connecting on the 14 field goals …  Was a two-time SoCon Special Teams Player of the Week … Earned National FCS Special Teams Player of the Week after scoring 16 points with seven PATs and three field goals of 32, 41, and 24 yards in his final career home game against ETSU (Nov. 11) … Was a first-team All-Southern Conference selection from both the league’s head coaches and the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) … Named to the third-team  Stats Perform FCS All-America team, presented by FedEx Ground … Dubbed first-team All-America by the FCS Football Central … Was a fourth-team All-America selection by the Phil Steele publication … Selected first-team preseason All-Southern Conference by the league's head coaches ... Nominated for the 2023 William V. Campbell Trophy which is awarded by the National Football Foundation (NFF) to the college football player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance  ... Named to the 2023-24 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll and Received a SoCon Commissioner's Medal.

2022 (Redshirt Junior): Saw action in all 11 of the team's games handling primary placekicking duties ... Three-time Southern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week, first after WCU's season-opening road win at Charleston Southern, hitting a 42-yard field goal and a career-best seven PATs ... Went 4-for-4 on field goals at Samford (Sept. 24) to earn weekly honors ... Tallied his third award after hitting the game-winning 33-yard field goal at ETSU (Nov. 12), scoring eight points with two field goals and a pair of PATs ... Finished the season 17-of-19 on field goals and 40-of-41 on PATs for a team-best 91 points scored ... Named second-team All-Southern Conference selection by the SoCon Sports Media Association (SCSMA) ... Tabbed a third-team Associated Press All-America selection ... Selected to the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District team ... Named to the 2023 NFF Hampshire Honor Society ... Earned 2022 Fall Academic All-SoCon honors ... Was a second-team preseason All-Southern Conference selection at placekicker by the league's head coaches ... Tabbed second-team preseason All-SoCon by Phil Steele ... Named to the 2022-23 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.

2021 (Redshirt Sophomore*): Saw action in 10 of the team's 11 games on special teams ... Led WCU in scoring with 78 points, ranking seventh in the SoCon in points per game at  7.8 ppg ... Finished the regular-season as the NCAA FCS field goal percentage leader, the only kicker to remain perfect on the year (12-for-12, 1.000) … Hit two field goals in a game three times, going 2-for-2 in those instances ... Split the uprights on a season-long 40-yard field goal at Gardner-Webb (Sept. 25) … Was perfect on PATs this season, hitting all 42 attempts … Earned Southern Conference Special Teams Player of the Week after WCU’s road win at Wofford, scoring a season-high 11 points with five PATs and two field goals of 37 and 23 yards … Also handled kickoff duties much of the season for WCU, averaging 58.0 yards per kick with five touchbacks ... Was named second-team All-Southern Conference by Phil Steele. ... Named 2021 Fall Academic All-Southern Conference ... Named to the 2021-22 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.

2020-21 (Redshirt Sophomore): Saw action in all nine of the team’s seasonal games on special teams … Connected on three of his six field goal attempts on the season and was 18-of-19 on PATs … Scored 27 points on the year … Matched a career-best with two made field goals (2-for-2) at Samford (Feb. 27) including a career-long 45-yard boot … Tied his career-high with a 45-yard field goal at ETSU (March 27) …  Added two kickoffs on the year for an average of 40.0 yards per kick  ... Named to the 2020-21 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll and was named Academic All-Southern Conference.
 
2019 (Redshirt Freshman): Played in five games on the season handling placekicks including field goals, PATs, and kickoffs … Connected on a career-best two field goals (2-for-3) in the home win over North Greenville (Sept. 14), scoring a career-high six points … Finished 5-for-5 including a career-best 4-for-4 on PATs at Chattanooga (Sept. 28) … Kicked off a total of 17 times for an average of 49.4 yards per kick with one touchback.

2018 (Freshman): Played in four games on the year, remaining eligible for a redshirt ... Made his collegiate debut at Gardner-Webb (Sept. 14) … Handled kickoff duties in four games, kicking 20 times for an average of 56.0 yards per kick with two touchbacks … Kicked off a career-high nine times against VMI (Sept. 22) … Did not attempt a field goal or PAT ... Named to the 2018-19 Southern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
 
Prior to Western Carolina: Connected on 13-of-20 field goals as a senior including a career-long 51-yard field goal in 2017, adding 31 touchbacks on kickoffs … As a junior, connected on 44-of-45 PATs and was 14-of-20 on field goals including a long kick of 47-yards in a game as a part of earning the Cape Fear Valley Conference Special Teams Player of the Year … Connected on a 60-yard field goal at practice in Twitter post that went viral … Received the Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award from WRAL-TV in Raleigh ... High school coach was Joe Allison … Is bi-lingual and was the leader of his school’s Spanish Club … Also played baseball as a prep.
 
Personal: Full name is Richard Larry McCollum … Is the son of Carolina and Fredy McCollum … Has two brothers, Freddy and Bryan … His older brother, Freddy, kicked collegiately at Wingate.