JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Leaning back in his bed at a rehab center in Jacksonville, Richard Collier, paralyzed from the waist down and missing one leg, recalled the night his life changed forever.

When the bullets came at the Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive lineman, he tried to get low. That's where his instincts led him; he didn't really know what to do. He wondered whether his friend and teammate Kenny Pettway was OK.

And he didn't feel any pain.

"I remember everything," Collier said Monday afternoon in his first interview since he sustained 14 gunshot wounds following a night out on the town with Pettway on Sept. 2. "I just remember the whole incident. It plays back in my mind all the time. Try to come up with these scenarios, if I did this, if I did that."

In October, police arrested Tyrone Hartsfield, a 32-year-old man they believe shot Collier in retaliation for a fight with Collier in April. Hartsfield is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 11. He entered a plea of not guilty through his attorney, public defender Ann Finnell.

On the advice of his lawyers, Collier declined to comment on Hartsfield or give more details about what happened that night.

But he did talk about what he went through. As the ambulance sped toward Shands Jacksonville Medical Center before 3 a.m., Collier had no idea he'd been hit. He thought he'd dodged the bullets. The paramedics counted the wounds. That's how Collier learned he'd been shot.

These days, Collier spends his days working to move his body past some of the havoc those bullets wreaked.

He does rehab almost every day, sometimes twice a day. But that won't fix everything. He is paralyzed below the waist, and doctors amputated his left leg, which one of the bullets hit.

But mentally and physically, he gets better all the time.

"Everything happens for a reason," Collier said. "I don't know my purpose in life yet, but I just know that this didn't happen for no reason."

He spent the first two weeks after being shot medically sedated, and on a ventilator.

For weeks after the shooting, only the people closest to Collier knew about his condition. Heavily sedated, he didn't know what was going on around him. His family wanted him to be one of the first people to know about his own condition.

When he awoke in the hospital, Collier felt a strange tingle in his legs. He ignored that. He figured he'd be back at football in a couple of weeks.

A day later, still unaware of his paralysis, he told his sister, Rendi, he wanted to move around.

"I've been lying in this bed all day," Collier told her. "Why don't you help me get up and scoot around the bed?"

Rendi started crying, then told her little brother the news. He was devastated.

Collier was discharged Oct. 7, and his rehab began.

The idea that he'll never play football again is difficult to grasp.

Collier had been an athlete all his life. He missed two years of football after high school when he skipped college and worked in a Walmart. But when he went back to school, he never stopped reaching for the NFL.

He went from a junior college to Valdosta State in Georgia, then left a semester early to work out for the NFL.

"We really felt like he had what the pro scouts were looking for, and that was size and athletic ability," said Chris Hatcher, Collier's coach at Valdosta State. "All we wanted somebody to do was somebody to take a chance on him."

The Jaguars worked him out and signed him as an undrafted free agent.

Recognizing a guy who wanted to work hard and wanted to make it, his teammates on the offensive line helped him out. This summer during training camp, Collier competed in a close battle to be the team's starter at left tackle. Jaguars Coach Jack Del Rio ultimately named Khalif Barnes the starter.

Then Collier's life changed forever.

"I've been in a lot of tough situations," Collier said. "This was the toughest."

Pettway was unharmed in the shooting; he now plays for the Green Bay Packers.

The Jaguars send Collier cards and letters submitted by fans and well-wishers, and he reads every single one. Most of his teammates have visited. Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver visited the hospital. Del Rio brought Collier lunch from Popeye's at the rehab center one day.

Linebacker Clint Ingram and offensive lineman Tutan Reyes visit the most.

They talk about the things they used to talk about back when Collier's locker was right near theirs. He catches up on locker-room gossip.

Those conversations are bittersweet.

"It used to be hard for me to watch the Jags," Collier said. "I remember sitting here in the hospital and just crying. Being around those guys, you have a bond with them. Without it you're like man, it's gone."

The first Jaguars game he watched this season was Jacksonville's win over Indianapolis on Sept. 21. He planned to watch his team "beat up on Houston" on Monday night, but the Texans won, 30-17. Collier still considers the Jags his team.

He wants to go home, where he hasn't been since before the shooting. He wants to get out of the place he's spent his last month — the place he celebrated his 27th birthday.

"I'm just ready for a change of scenery," Collier said. "Just ready to go out and enjoy life. I've been in the hospital stuck with needles all the time. . . . I'm just ready to get back to a normal life."

As amputees often do, Collier often feels like his left leg is still there. He sometimes refers to his legs, plural, until he catches himself.

Monday afternoon Collier leaned back against his bed at the rehab center, unshaven and tired, with an iPod laying on his lap and headphones draped over his ears. He'd just finished his afternoon round of rehab.

The most important thing for his recovery is regaining his upper-body strength.

And every day he sees a little more progress.

Now he can hold a cup in his hands. He can put on his own pants. He can eat properly. He can even move his right leg a little bit if he's in the right position.

"I've always been told I was a strong person," Collier said. "I think I never really paid attention to it. I realized now how much strength I really have, how much patience I have.

"I've realized there's so much more to me than playing football."