For four years, Collin Parker was a basketball standout at Columbia College, earning two all-American awards, receiving conference player of year honors twice and finishing as the school’s all-time leading scorer.

Now, the Montgomery County graduate will look to carry that success to Austin Peay University.

Parker will play for the NCAA Division I Clarksville, Tenn., school for the 2025-26 season after finding out he has one more year of eligibility. He’s doing workouts with the Governors this summer.

“I like it,” Parker said. “I’m now trying to get used to the area and get used to being away from home.”

When Parker attended Columbia College, he was only one hour away from his Montgomery City home. By attending Austin Peay, he’s going to be 348 miles away from home.

Parker is pursuing a Master’s degree in business administration at Austin Peay. He said he is excited about continuing his basketball career at the NCAA Division I level.

“Ever since I was little, I always had a dream of playing Division I basketball,” Parker said. “I was lucky enough to get that extra year to pursue that dream.”

Also next year, Parker’s younger brother, Clayton, will be playing at Morehead State University, which is about five hours east of Austin Peay.

The 6-foot-8 Parker will play for an Austin Peay program that finished 14-19 last year. The Governors played in the NCAA tournament seven times, with their last appearance coming in 2016.

“I never watched them play in person, but I watched one of their last postseason games before I committed,” Parker said. “So I saw how they played.”

Parker’s goals at Austin Peay are to help the Governors get back on the winning track and return to the NCAA tournament.

“I’m taking it day by day,” said Parker, who is one of five Missouri residents on the Austin Peay roster. “I want to be able to make an impact for the team and play my role.”

Parker was named second-team NAIA all-American and earned American Midwest Conference player of the year honors after averaging 22.6 points and 10 rebounds per game this winter. He finished his career with 2,124 points.

“I enjoyed Columbia College a lot,” said Parker, who played with his older brother, Carson, all four years at Columbia. “I had no regrets going to Columbia. I had a good four years. I made a lot of friends in Columbia and also on the basketball team.”

Parker’s career at Columbia ended on a sour note after the Cougars lost to Central Baptist College in the AMC semifinals on March 1. Columbia finished at 22-8, its sixth straight winning season.

“We had a tough loss at the end of the year,” Parker said. “We didn’t have enough to make the national tournament as an at-large bid. It was kind of unfortunate that we didn’t make it. But looking back on it, we still had a good year. It was a good time with all of my teammates.”

Then, Parker was offered to play basketball at Austin Peay, which competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

“Their assistant coach, Coach (Tim) Ward, called me as soon as our season was over and they were very interested,” Parker said. “I started talking with the head coach. Coach (Corey) Gipson. I came down on a visit in March. I thought I was at the right spot.”

Parker graduated from MCHS in 2021. When he was a senior, he earned Class 4 all-state honors after finishing as the Wildcats’ top scorer at 19 points per game and helping his team win Eastern Missouri Conference and district championships. He also averaged 12 rebounds, four blocks and 2.5 assists per game. He made 55 percent of his shots and 85 percent of his free throws.