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Holliday bowing out in home state
CU running back faces NU team he wanted to play for
Photo by Cliff Grassmick
Mell Holliday, shown earlier in his senior season, rushed for 126 yards Saturday against Iowa State.
Mell Holliday tried three times to prove to Nebraska coaches he could play in the Big 12.
He gets his fourth chance next week.
After going to high school in Omaha and playing at tiny Wayne State, Holliday made three attempts to earn a spot on the Husker roster as a walk-on. He was denied all three times. Then he came to Colorado and tried again for the Buffs.
CU coaches liked what they saw and gave the 5-8, 205-pound running back a spot. But he had to sit out last year because of transfer rules. Finally, a game away from the end of his career, he ran for 126 yards last week.
Maybe the Huskers noticed.
"I just want to show them that I can play anywhere," Holliday said. "And I want to show them that I can play anywhere and do well."
The 5-8, 205-pound Holliday first played for Wayne State College in Nebraska after high school. He lettered twice at fullback there. He then decided it was time to move to a bigger stage.
He shot about as high as a Nebraska kid could. He transferred to NU for the spring 2004 semester and tried out for the team three times before leaving NU after the spring 2005 semester. He attended classes there the entire time and transferred to CU for the fall 2005 semester.
It quickly looked like a good move. He climbed to third on the depth chart in the preseason and figured to see the field right away. Then he was forced to sit out the season because the school's compliance office discovered a seldom-used transfer rule applied to Holliday.
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So he sat out another season, making it three years between playing in a football game before this season's opener. He ran for 50 yards on 12 carries in that game, but had only 13 carries combined in the next four.
He slowly began to reappear in the Baylor game. He had 11 carries for 65 yards in that game. He continued to get more carries until he had his best game last week.
After three schools, three years and a heap of hard work, Holliday had his first Division I 100-yard rushing game.
"He's getting an opportunity," was his coach, Darian Hagan's, simple explanation of Holliday's success. "He has the desire to accomplish things and that's a big part of it. He has great determination."
Holliday would have had an unusual life for a college student even if he didn't go to three schools. He has five children with three different mothers. He's only 22 years old but has five children under the age of 5 — Audrianna (4), Nyla (4), Mell'ani (4), Elijah (2) and Lov (1). In order to support them he returned to Nebraska this summer and worked as a welder and didn't work out with his team in Boulder.
"You know, a lot of people want to get down on the kid because he has made mistakes," Hagan said. "But he has manned up and taken responsibility for them. You can't be anything but happy for him."
Because of how he runs, Holliday put himself on Hagan's good side. It makes sense a guy who worked so hard to get here would run so hard. He is a power runner for the Buffs, and Hagan could barely contain his smile when he rattled off Holliday's most impressive stat of last week — more than 90 of his yards came after contact.
"Since I've been here I have never seen one guy tackle him," Hagan said.
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After everything Holliday has went through to prove he can play big-time college football, he will soon be right back where he started. He'll play his last collegiate game in Nebraska just as he's finally showing how productive he can be.
But there's more after football. He will graduate in May with a psychology degree and plans to eventually attend graduate school. Then it's on to a private practice to provide for his family.
In the meantime he's trying to find enough tickets for his family to go the game on Nov. 24. He's planning on about 35 friends and family — some who are still deciding between red or black attire. One of his family members, starting Nebraska strong safety Tierre Green, obviously doesn't need a ticket.
That should be an interesting collision between cousins. And Holliday doesn't plan on holding up if he sees Green coming for him. He's going to approach it like he has the rest of his career.
"The thing is you can't be intimidated," he said. "There's a little size difference. But you have to realize they are preparing for everything the same way you do."
Posted by extrapoint on November 15, 2006 at 7:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I still have nightmares about the CSU game when the Rams used the same swing pass, flat pass or bubble screen or whatever you want to call it about 2 dozen times in a row successfully. I have not seen many other games since then because I live outside of durango and the TV brainchld execs think we are part of the Albuquerque marketing area where everybody goes for Texas. I imagine the Husker west coast offense will use a lot of the same short passing game. Has the Buff's defense "manned up" to this problem?
Posted by ATLBuff on November 15, 2006 at 7:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
BIG NEWS in CU recruiting...
For those of you who don't know, 4 star JC RB Gates firmed up his commitment to CU. He is now a solid verbal.
We had a great recruiting weekend with 8 top prospects all having a good time in Boulder. Our visit this week has been rescheduled to 12/8. 4 star JC WR Richmond will now visit on the 8th with 3 star RB Willie Griffin.
The 8th visitor was 4 star JC DE Drew Hudgins. We've offered him a scholarship and we're apparently showing him the most love of all the schools recruiting him right now. He wouldn't count against our 25 player cap.
Nate Vaiomounga went from two stars to one star at LB. He is now listed as a 3 star S by both Rivals and Scout.com. Nate committed to CU following his visit this past weekend. He is cousins with 4 star TE Mahina, who also visited this past weekend. Mahina really liked Boulder and has moved it up his list. He has narrowed his schools down to UCLA, BYU, Oregon and CU. He'll visit Oregon this weekend and he's already been to UCLA and BYU a number of times, though he'll take official visits later. He may not make up his mind until January, but he was impressed with CU, UCLA already has a top TE in its class and he'll have visited all 4 schools after this weekend. If we lose him I suspect it will be because of his existing relationship with UCLA or his mormon faith.
The biggest news of all is that yesterday 4 star DE Apaiata Tuihalamaka gave a soft verbal commit to CU according to Scout.com. If that is true, it is huge news. With Wright leaving we needed to replace him on the DL. This could be the guy. Apaiata had a great time in Boulder and he could play LB under Cabral whom he met and really liked. Since CU was his second trip and he still has visits scheduled to Arizona, Miami and Nebraska, we'll see if it holds. This guy would be a great addition to our program if he firms up his commitment. His giving a soft verbal may be a way to reserve a space in a class that is rapidly filling up. Apaiate is hs teammates with 4 star WR Anthony Boyles. Boyles also had a great time in Boulder. If we firm up our soft verbals and add Boyles, Simas, and Mahina, plus a few others, we'll have an awesome class. Our class is already looking pretty good. Now lets see it get even better. Go Buffs!
Posted by RedMan on November 15, 2006 at 7:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Dang! With Holliday's track record he should have walked on and played for the Trojans... I am kidding of course. I respect anyone who loves and takes care of their family. It's a testament to Mel that he can work full time in the summer for his family and still be in game shape for the fall camp and compete. Hope he does well but not too good against us.
Posted by Covercorner on November 15, 2006 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think Holiday could have been a more reliable contributor had he more time here. Oh well, there's no better way to go out than to punish the team that didn't want you. I wonder if his kids are all with same mom or if he's had to go on Maury...When it comes to 1 year old Lov, Mel, YOU ARE THE FATHER!!!
Posted by ATLBuff on November 15, 2006 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Holliday, you have something to prove. Man up and run them down. Our OL will create the lanes, you have to run it right at Nebraska. This team can beat Nebraska if it plays its best football. Who wins isn't in the cornhuskers hands. Who wins will be decided entirely by which CU team shows up. Our defense can largely contain Nebraska and our offense can score on them at will if they play their best game. Nebraska is not, however, Iowa State. Iowa State is a bad football team. Nebraska is a good, if less than exceptional, team. We've played other good teams and played them close. We can do the same in Lincoln. How great would it be to see the looks on all their fans' faces? We can do it. Go Buffs!
Posted by RedMan on November 15, 2006 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Who wins is definitely in NU's hands. Just show up and roll the helmets out and we can and will likely get beat, but like I wrote earlier if we match or exceed CU's intensity and execute, we will win. NU knows that this is CU's bowl game and that they will get their best shot. No surprise there. NU has just as much motivation to win this if not more. National TV, recruiting momentum, springboard to the conf championship game it's all there for the taking. NU is looking to finally play a complete 4 quarters game and CU should feel the brunt of that next week.
Posted by gmon310 on November 15, 2006 at 10:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
let me get this straight: "order restored" with a miracel win at A&M and you still got that Beau Bridges look alike as your coach??? hahah - riiiight. Hawk is comin for ya corn people.
Posted by ATLBuff on November 15, 2006 at 10:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No one cares about Nebraska recruiting on a CU message board you dolt. Who cares who his father was anyway? Maybe you guys should see if Bob Lee has any years of eligibility left.
Nebraska has been good in the past, no arguing that, but times change. Congrats on FINALLY getting back to a Big XII Championship. When was the last time, 1999? Wow, last century. You think Texas may want to make a statement with your program?
The idea that Nebraska will blow CU out, while possible, is highly improbable. We've played better teams than Nebraska all year long and haven't been blown out. If CU comes to play, your program will get embarrassed. If you guys win, everyone shrugs their shoulders and they'll say it was expected. If we win, folks will say your program has taken a major step back. Go Buffs!
Posted by BuffTime on November 15, 2006 at 11:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Really DrTom? At 8-3 Nebraska is "back"? Didn't Frank Solich get fired for a better record then that? Good to know that the Cornmunchers have lowered the bar...
Posted by wenrenken on November 15, 2006 at 3:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dr. Tom - what difference who you recruit at QB they will transfer out in a year - must be deception in recruiting.
Posted by dabuffs50 on November 15, 2006 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dr. Tom, remember 62-36...... Stay Cocky
Posted by ATLBuff on November 15, 2006 at 5:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Apparently Apaiata Tuihalamaka's soft verbal may be extremely soft. Word has it he intends to make his final three visits. We may not know for sure if we land him until January. I hope we still have space in our class. I've read that we currently lead the race over Oregon. He still has visits scheduled to Arizona, Nebraska, and Miami.
More troubling, we just received a commit from 2 star safety/QB Devonne Quattlebaum from South Carolina. Look, I'm sure this kid will be an asset to the program, but this brings our recruits to 22. Many of the best players on our radar won't commit until late December or early January. At this rate we'll be overwhelmed with lower tier recruits who don't have as many options. Quattlebaum, assuming he'll play S, brings to 5 the number of DBs in this class. I said we needed DBs, but I'm not sure we need 5. We still have no WRs and no TEs. With Gates and Nelson enrolling in the Spring, we have 5 spots left in our normal 25 person capped class and 4 scholarships available to players who can enroll in the Spring. That doesn't leave a lot of room for us to fill those remaining slots with more one and two star DBs and OL.
3 star TE Savai'i Eselu, who visited this past weekend, committed to Oregon today. That leaves Mahina as our only TE prospect. Mahina visits Oregon this weekend, UCLA mid-December, and BYU in January.
Posted by shopperey on November 15, 2006 at 8:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you, Dr. Tom, for breathing a little fire into these discussions. I'm a big Buffs fan, and it's great to see you bring out the best in all of us.
Nebraska bites the big one!!!!
Go Buffs!
Posted by DallasBuff on November 15, 2006 at 8:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ATLBuff - Thanks for the constant recruiting updates. Instead of practicing law, perhaps you should pursue work as a recruiting coordinator somewhere...
Posted by dyemeduke on November 15, 2006 at 8:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tom, this Paul by the way from the old message boards. 5 QB recruits??! Come on, even you should see that's a bit too much; that's about how many you want on your team, not in one class. I will say that Lee is supposed to be a keeper though. I also remember you saying that Witt would rocket up the star rankings once the season started, and what do you know, he's still a two star...
Apaiata I think is supposed to be a LB here, and I've heard (perhaps erroneously) that Nate is his cousin too...or he just has a cousin in Denver. At TE, we've also been recruiting others, albeit haven't offered yet. It currently doesn't look great for Boyles, unless Apaiata does some recruiting himself.
ATL - Devonne and Perkins are either DBs or WRs - or who knows, RBs. Don't worry about the numbers so much - Hawk (whether we agree or not) is going to spend a lot of scholarships this year. We still have several open, and only a little more than a dozen prospects left - they are not lower tier either.
Posted by ATLBuff on November 15, 2006 at 10:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dyemeduke,
Apaiata played LB, but the recruiting services have him listed as a DE. He seems like he'd need to put on weight to play DE. He was recruited by Cabral, so I guess he'd play LB for CU. It is my understanding that he has a cousin in Colorado, but I don't think we're talking about Nate. Nate is, however, supposed to be Mahina's cousin.
Why do you think it doesn't look good for us landing Boyles? He put us among his top picks after visiting Boulder. Scout.com has Perkins listed as a CB and Devonne as a S. They both probably have the size and enough speed to call them WRs. Maybe if we come up short with Boyles, Simas, Richmond, and Celestine we can console ourselves with that. It won't be much consolation. Look we'll be much improved next season I suspect because of improvements at QB alone. Our OL may need some time to adjust to college ball, but this class is very strong at OL. Other than that, I think there are still questions left to be answered. We still haven't found our big playmakers. We need to close the deal on some of the top WRs and TE we're still pursuing.
Posted by ColoradoPaul on November 15, 2006 at 11:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I thought we should acknowledge Holliday somewhere amidst the recruiting noise. It sounds like NU snubbed him then made it impossible to play at CU for a year. I hope he gets his revenge.
As for Nebraska being back, I think that is certainly premature. They have lost to the top notch teams they played, USC and Texas. Talk about being back when you win those kind of games. They squeaked one out against A&M, and Kansas took them to overtime. Not exactly a juggernaut.
Yeah, you all MAY win, but CU will give you a game. I'm thinking that left over turkey might go good with some roasted corn. Go Buffs!
Posted by collegeFBfan on November 16, 2006 at 3:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Holliday picked the worst time to walk on at Nebraska. The huskers had an over stock of backs at the time. It's great that he did get an opportunity to make it with a big 12 team and it's even better that he is finally getting his chance to play. As for the hype on all the recruits and the number of stars they have, look at the number of highly rated recruits that start with one school and end up with another. Some of these kids want to play the day they arrive on campus and if they don't they move on. Some have ego's that are out of control and almost make themselves uncoachable. A prime example is Mel Holliday who I believe never had one star. Find more kids with heart and determination and athletic ability and forget about the stars. As for the Nebraska Colorado game...who knows which team will show up to play. Prediction.....Nebraska takes an early lead into half time. Colorado adjusts and closes the gap...then the game gets fun....everything will be decided in the fourth quarter. No blowout by either team. Just another hard fought game that will be great to watch to matter the outcome. I just love college football.
Posted by blackshirts038 on November 16, 2006 at 6:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The rivalry between Nebraska and Colorado is like the Rivalry between the hammer and the nail. NU is 45-17 all time against Colorado and if you try to say CU is starting to make it a rivalry, in the last 10 games, NU is up 7-3. But if you buffaloes want to call a lifetime of beatings a rivalry, go right ahead.
Posted by acknowlton on November 16, 2006 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
HUSKER FANS!!! STOP IT!! Now I am about as big of a Nebraska fan there is, and bleed Husker red; but for the love of God let CU fans enjoy thier own forum. Do you have nothing better to do than start flame wars on someone else's website? You should be happy that a Nebraska kid has found a high profile team that he can have success with. Grow up and lay off; because it was not so long ago we were in the exact same situation.
To the Colorado fans out there: I hope it is a good game (with a red victory of course), and I think you have a good coach. All I ask is that the next time I get out to CU for this great rivarly game, try to keep your idiots from launching bottles of urine and bleach balloons at me.
Posted by hoosierhusker on November 16, 2006 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As a lifetime Husker fan, I am obviously hoping for a strong run to finish the season to continue turning the NU program around. But, regardless of what happens next Friday, I am not ready to proclaim Nebraska to be back, or Colorado to be dead.
If we knew that one team was going to win by 14+ points, I think most people's money would be on Nebraska. But, among other things, I don't think that will be the case for three reasons: CU is far better than their record indicates, they seem to be coming together and playing pretty good ball to end the season, and NU has yet play four quality quarters against a decent opponent.
Finally, I just want to say how great it is to see Holliday getting a chance to display his athletic skills while getting a great education. I hope he is able to achieve his stated goals and care for his family.
See you in Lincoln!
PS I am a big fan of the Beau Bridges look alike.
Posted by ATLBuff on November 16, 2006 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
collegeFBfan, I love your passion for the game. I agree that stars matter less than heart. As I frequently mention, Jordon Dizon had two stars. Give me a team filled with guys like that any day. That said, all we have to go on until the kid is playing in a CU uniform are these imprecise ratings. More important than the number of stars by a recruits name is filling critical needs of the team. I think we've accomplished that on the OL and we're re-upped at QB. We've got a few new players in our secondary, hopefully a few of whom will pan out. We also have a couple new RBs, but fortunately Charles returns next season. Our new OL players may need time to adjust to college, but once they do I suspect we'll see Charles explode. I remain very worried about our lack of receivers. It is possible that some of the guys returning will blossom after a little time in college and a more reliable passer taking over the helm. Still, I don't see any big playmakers among them. Unfortunately, we haven't landed a single WR or TE in this class. We're after a number of players with a ton of potential, but spaces in our class are rapidly filling up and the guys I'd most like to see in Boulder are unlikely to make a final decision for a month or more. We'll see how it all shapes up.
Posted by Mak on November 16, 2006 at 8:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ATLBuff, you make a lot of great points, and your recruiting information is well researched. The one thing about Apaita that you fail to mention is that he also committed on his first visit, and his coach even said that he will most likely commit to each school he visits.
The Holliday kid sounds like the one that any coach would love to have on his team, the Rudy factor. Someone with that type of desire always seems to rub off on others.
You also made the comment in your posts more then once about CU playing better teams then the Huskers all year, but according to the NCAA, CU's schedule is the 80th strongest and the 9th in the Big Xll, while the team from the east is 8th in the country, and tops in the Big Xll. Hmmm, kind of makes you think your got some wrong info on your stat sheet.
Just for the record, I am just a fan of football and follow neither of these teams, but love following rivalries like these. I get a kick out of how fans go back and forth at each other. You should get into a OSU-MU one this week, GREAT reading. I just hope for the sake of the game that it is a good one, but from stats and following each team all year, this is a much better NU team then last year that went into Boulder and had their way with the Buffs. CU will have to play perfect football and hope for mistakes from the 'skers to stay in the game. And just a scary thought is that NU will only lose 3 starters from the O for next year...
Posted by dyemeduke on November 16, 2006 at 8:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not only has Apaiata soft verballed to the first school he visited, but we're his third soft verbal apparently. Still, I think we have a good shot, seeing how Cabral recruits Polynesians well.
If we get Apaiata on board, Boyles might come, but he didn't even think of CU until recently. I'd imagine that's got to hurt our chances - I know there are stories that contradict that statement, but there are more that prove it.
Dizon was three stars, wasn't he? And one recruiting service (the old CBS Sportsline) I remember had him as a "Super" in the West Region at RB.
Posted by huskerbacker on November 17, 2006 at 3:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
i along with many others hope holliday makes it. i would like to see him have a good game in front of family. i would like to see him go pro (unlikely but possible) with the heart he has. on the subject of coming back to work to support his kids is great buy im sure the state had something to do with that. he should have stuck around in boulder and worked even harder and then he could have started this whole season and really made a pro career look possible. GO HUSKERS
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