One of Floridas top DBs landing offers
Gerrod Holliman out of Miami (Fla.) Southridge is one of the top safeties in the entire state of Florida. He may in fact be one of the top players in the state at any position. Now colleges are starting to realize that.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Holliman didn't have any scholarship offers. Now he is up to five with more possibly on the way.
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"Right now I have offers from Minnesota, Nebraska, Louisville, Maryland and Kansas State," Holliman said. "The first one came in two weeks ago."
Among his first cluster of offers, two schools stand out to Holliman: Louisville and Nebraska.
"I was talking to the coach a lot and he said he was interested in getting me out there," he said. I was following them when I was little and I watched them on TV when they had the good running backs.
"Nebraska, they lost two DBs this year and next year the coach says they're losing five DBs."
The offers likely won't stop and Holliman - who has a solid GPA - could be in line for some offers from heavy hitters if he is able to get his test scores up.
"It feels good that I've got schools that are getting at me to know that I've got a big chance of making it in college," he said. "All I have to do is pass the SAT now. My grades are good."
As of yet, Holliman hasn't been to any junior days due to last minute conflict on a few occasions. Currently, he's trying to get to the campuses at Florida, Louisville, UCF and Florida State. Likely joining him on those trips is his highly-regarded teammate, cornerback Andrew Johnson.
The two defensive backs have offer lists that look very similar and they have openly discussed the possibility of continuing to play together on the next level.
"We talk about that a lot," he said. "I grew up with Drew since middle school. We went to the same middle school and at first we separated in high school but then I transferred. That's the one thing I really look forward to is playing at the same school as Drew."
The relationship is certainly one that has proven beneficial to both players. Their competitive nature has driven them to loads of high school success.
"It feels good playing with him," said Holliman. "I feel comfortable. I'm competitive, he's competitive and when we compete against each other, we play better. We want to do it all."
That competition is clear through Holliman's goals for his senior campaign.
"I want to lead Dade County in tackles and I want to beat Drew's record for interceptions at seven."
As offers have begun to be more frequent, there is a group of schools that Holliman is hoping will add to his list: Miami, Florida, Florida State, West Virginia and USC. Despite growing up a fan of his home-town Miami Hurricanes, the Florida Gators may be the school that Holliman has the biggest eye for.
"To be honest, the hardest one to pass up to me would probably be Florida," he said. "That's not my favorite school but my favorite players went there: Percy Harvin and Reggie Nelson."
This weekend, Holliman will be in Tampa, Fla. with his South Florida Express 7on7 team to compete in the BadgerSports Elite Passing Camp on the campus of USF.