DEV HOLMES FINDING SUCCESS AT UALBANY
Troy High Alumni Dev Holmes earns CAA Rookie of the Week honors for the third time this season
ALBANY » Former Troy High stand out Dev Holmes has continued his success onto the Div. 1 level with UAlbany.
Despite his success in high school, Holmes doesn’t see that as something meaningful in the locker room in Albany.
“I mean, more than half this team won a state championship where they are from,” said Holmes. “That’s what division one players are, state champions. Winners. They work hard. When I came in I knew I was going to have to work hard, so I mean, it’s nothing new.”
Holmes, a two time state champion with Troy, is having fun at Albany. Local kids from all over Section 2 are scattered through the roster, including Dev’s Troy High teammate Joe Casale.
“It’s a lot of fun,” said Holmes. “They knew who Joe and I were. We’ll tease them saying our team in high school beat their team. It’s funny because you can’t go back and face each other, so all you have to do is talk the game.”
What also has carried over to the college game from Holmes’ high school day’s is the swagger he brings to the field. In warm-ups, Holmes can
be seen dancing and keeping things light, while also making impressive catches in the air and having a sense of readiness.
Holmes proves to have a good sense of preparation, while not taking himself too serious.
That swagger clearly permeates through the team. When Holmes is successful, the team is successful, and Holmes knows it.
“During camp I figured i’d be a spark plug for this offense and each week I try to be that spark plug,” said Holmes. “I fumbled versus Rhode Island but after that we were down 43-7 in the blink of an eye and we were like, ‘ Dang, let’s go.’ After that there’s been no turnovers by me, so I just need to keep being the spark plug.”
In the Great Danes’ first win of the season against Morgan State, Holmes had 238 receiving yards on eight catches with one touchdown. Against Saint Francis, Holmes had two touchdown catches and racked up 128 yards on seven catches.
“It’s exciting, I know my talent so nothing has changed,” said Holmes on being apart of the Great Dane offense and how he is being implemented. “They have me doing everything and I am going to everything I can to keep producing for this team.”
Saturday was the third time Holes eclipsed 100 yards receiving.
Holmes stats are impressive. Not just for a freshman, but a receiver in general. Holmes has a good group of leadership helping him not only have a great freshman season, but to also become an effective leader on and off the field.
“Yea they are good mentors,” said Holmes. “We have a bunch of different people on this team who you can relax, kick your feet back with, and talk. Kareem [ Brown] and I were just talking about stuff before the game at dinner. So you can just kick back and just talk with your teammates. With your brothers.”
UAlbany is onto a Bye week this upcoming weekend before going into CAA play. Now 2-2, Dev things the break is important.
“Going 2-2 into a bye week is good. We’re keeping our team healthy,” said Holmes. “We start conference play so we have to play hard every week.”