Three-star Michigan running back David Holloman committed to Indiana via Twitter on Thursday evening, becoming the sixth commitment to Indiana's 2021 class and the first running back. With Holloman in line to join Indiana in 2021, the Hoosiers will now have Stevie Scott, Sampson James, Tim Baldwin and Holloman set to fill the room when Holloman steps foot on campus for his freshman season.
But what is Indiana getting out of Holloman? Well, A whole lot of speed.
From The Experts
SpartanMag's Kenny Jordan is a Michigan high school recruiting expert who has watched Holloman for more than a year.
"With the commitment, the Hoosiers are getting arguably the fastest and, in my opinion, most underrated players in the one of the strongest classes we’ve seen from Michigan in years. Holloman ran a 4.221 electronically timed 40-yard dash at The D Zone combine back in March of his sophomore year. Outside of that, Holloman is a pretty raw prospect as he enters college. He doesn’t go to a large school, which may have slowed his recruitment down compared to other top prospects in the state of Michigan.
"One thing that I will say, that may be the most important part is you can’t teach speed, and when I watched him at the event in early-2019, he was by far the fastest, and it wasn’t close. That event also had Donovan Edwards, Maliq Carr, and Andrel Anthony among other highly recruited players. Holloman can also spread out and play receiver in the slot with above average hands, which he has done at his high school."
Speed kills
Holloman has been reported to clock at several different 40-yard dash times throughout his recruitment, including the 4.221 at a The D Zone combine that Jordan mentioned and a 4.33 at an unnamed The Opening combine, according to the Detroit News. But Holloman tweeted his ticket from the The Opening Regionals in Washington D.C.that had him clocked at 4.39, which is still extremely fast for a 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back.
Here are some examples of how fast Indiana's newest running back is.
Indiana has not brought in a similar straight-line speed running back since the days of Tevin Coleman – who ran a 4.40 40-yard dash at his Indiana Pro Day and a 4.59 at the NFL Combine. But as Jordan said, Holloman is still raw. There aren't many running backs who reverse field, but Holloman does so multiple times in his junior-year tape. He gets away with it because of his speed.
But Holloman shows plenty of promise, and that's most immediately evident in the honors he's earned nationally. He won top performer at running back at the Hall of Fame National Combine, was invited to the Under Armour All-America Game, and recorded a SPARQ score in the 99th percentile of all athletes tested at The Opening Regional combine at the age of 15.
The reason Holloman doesn't look blazingly quick in his tape most of the time is because of his size. At almost 200 pounds, most high school prospects aren't running 4.39-second 40-yard dashes. But Holloman has an unusual combination of speed and size that makes him both underrated – as Jordan said above – and a steal for Indiana.
He rushed for 1,223 yards and 14 touchdowns on 101 carries – and average of 12.2 yards per carry.
There are some areas of concern, though, which points at the fact that he is still a raw athlete learning how to play his position. He lost seven fumbles last season, according to his MaxPreps page, and he has some trouble with patience on the field. But his downhill running is encouraging. Indiana running backs coach Mike Hart mentioned a lack of patience in Sampson James early in the 2019 season. as well, and James finished his year with a 118-yard game against Purdue, proving that these areas can be coached.
Ultimately, Holloman is an athlete Indiana could not turn away.
Why would Holloman commit to Indiana?
Holloman was earning serious interest from Ohio State and Michigan, making multiple trips to both schools during the 2019 season. His last visit before the dead period was put in place was to Ohio State in early-March. He didn't earn his offer from Indiana until late-February.
A prospect like Holloman would choose to commit to Indiana most likely because he can't continue to make more visits to those types of schools during the dead period without already holding offers from them. Ohio State has earned commitments from two top-six running backs in the 2021 class, and Michigan is gunning hard for No. 2 running back Donovan Edwards and No. 7 running back Corey Kiner. Those Michigan recruitments will likely take some time, time that not every running back has with the recruiting classes filling as quickly as they are in 2021.
A Michigan running back committing to Mike Hart at a Big Ten school with a strong recent history of running back success, like Indiana, only makes sense.
In addition, these are the recruits Indiana needs to bring in, particularly during the COVID-19 outbreak and the corresponding dead period – the recruits taht aren't glued to blue blood programs and the recruits in or near the Midwest or Florida, where Indiana has its strongest connections.
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