Holliday greetings

Bolingbrook defensive tackle Roosevelt Holliday is the 2008 GRIDIRON Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-foot-3, 303-pound, soft-spoken Holliday has been garnering interest from Division I schools.

(Michael R. Schmidt/Staff Photographer)

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As a sixth-grader at Jane Addams Middle School in Bolingbrook, Roosevelt Holliday loved the Green Bay Packers and listed Brett Favre as his favorite player. He went downstate in wrestling and track and field, already gaining notice as a 5-foot-7, 182-pound maven on the mat, in the shot put and the discus.

Also in sixth grade, Holliday began his youth football career for the Bolingbrook Trojans, mainly as a center. He then stopped for two years because, as Holliday recalled, the Trojans "didn't have football for the bigger kids." But he was bigger and better by his freshman year at Bolingbrook High School.

Eventually burgeoning into a behometh-sized 6-foot-3, 303-pound defensive tackle, Holliday tried a stint on the end at first, becoming a tackle toward the end of that freshman season when Raiders coach John Ivlow promoted him to the varsity. Through it all, like Theodore Roosevelt's big-stick policy, Holliday had his own ideology.

Speak softly. Play loudly.

"I don't even realize it anymore," Holliday said of his quiet, demure demeanor off the field. "Maybe it's because when I was younger, I got my ear drum busted by my cousin in an accident, so I started talking this way -- started talking softer. To me, it sounds like I'm talking louder than I really am."

In 2008, nobody spoke louder and prouder from the Joliet area than the humble Holliday, named today as the GRIDIRON Defensive Player of the Year. The all-state selection for Class 8A by the Illinois Football Coaches Association led Bolingbrook (10-1) to an undefeated regular season and a 17th consecutive playoff appearance.

His teammates and classmates call him "Rosey" for a reason. A gentle giant walking in the hallways, Holliday transforms into Thanksgiving and Christmas combined on the football field. He has the motor of a monster truck, the agility of a Corvette, the force of hurricane winds and the power that could scare even Hercules.

"His strength is his strength," Ivlow said. "And that might be the biggest thing he improved on from his junior to senior years. He got stronger, much stronger, and he's a lot leaner. He played at 300 pounds, but he told me the other day he is down to 290, and the thing is he can put on even more weight and more muscle in college."

"Roosevelt Holliday," pointed out Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar, who has sent a platoon of such to Division I colleges, "was the most dominant defensive tackle we faced this year."

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Those with the statistical bent will raise an eyebrow when glancing at Holliday's final numbers. He notched 18 solo tackles and contributed 20 assists, bringing 2 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries to the mix for a Bolingbrook defense that relinquished only 11.7 points per game and an average of 225.7 yards a game, including 93.6 rushing.

While the Raiders were known for the stealth of their secondary -- safeties Alex McNulty and Brandon Westphal and cornerbacks Marcus Daniels, David Boatright and Maurice Armstead earned a reputation as "Ivlow's Interceptors" -- being plus-24 in the takeaway department sprouted from the work of Holliday and Co.

He did his job.

"Yeah, that's the thing sometimes," Ivlow said. "People look at you and they say, 'The tackle totals, they are not that high. He didn't do too much.' And I'm like, 'Hey, he's double-teamed every play. He did a great job.' That's what some people don't understand. 'Rosey' takes on two guys all the time so the linebackers can make plays."

"Well, in our defense, the tackles are forced into a lot of double teams," Raiders defensive coordinator Bob Corra said. "That enables the inside linebackers to make a lot of the tackles, and that stuff gets overlooked. Holliday was the key to our defense because he freed up our linebackers."

During the summer, Holliday broke free from a talented pack as the Most Valuable Lifter at the Rudy's Gym High School Football Powerlifting Championships. He tied for the best squat at 700 pounds and won for best dead lift at 605 pounds. His three-lift total added up to an amazing 1,655 pounds.

"He made tremendous strides in the weight room," Corra said of Holliday. "With that strength, he has a real quick first step and a good double-hand punch to keep the blockers off of him. He creates so much separation with his first step, and it's hard for the offensive linemen to get into his chest."

"We work hard from the time that one season ends to the start of the next season," Holliday said. "You have to be pretty much dedicated to the team because you practice hard, you lift weights, and all during the season, we train hard. That's what it's all about."

Said Ivlow: "He's very strong, he's very lean, and he has tremendous upside. He's everything that big-time colleges will look for in a defensive tackle."

Not that Holliday fell for the role right away. The glory goes elsewhere, but the blood and gore pours here.

"At first, I thought it was tough," Holliday said. 'But then I learned that, 'Really, this is what you're job is. This is what you have to do. Your job is to open up the holes, open up the gaps, for the linebackers to get in and make the tackles.' And my favorite part is doing that and tossing around a guard."

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With the Southwest Suburban Blue title hanging in the balance and Lincoln-Way East driving deep into Bolingbrook territory on the opening drive of the first quarter, Roosevelt Holliday delivered a see-saw, sensational sequence that belongs as a finalist on ESPN's Plays of the Year. It was the most unlikely of playmaker haymakers.

The Griffins appeared to be good to go on a fullback dive, the push forward seemingly producing first-down yardage. Instead, Holliday emerged from the pile and headed for the end zone, rumbling 72 yards for his first and only varsity touchdown and a 6-0 lead 3:28 into the first quarter -- the first of 6 takeaways in a 27-17 Raider victory.

Afterward, junior linebacker Mike Hellams glanced in Holliday's direction, crediting the defensive line for his interception and fumble recovery in the second half. Holliday smiled in return, knowing he did more than a job.

He did his damage.

"His touchdown against us was a huge momentum changer and very well could have been the difference in the game, and as it turned out, the conference championship," Zvonar said. "It was a textbook strip drill, something I am sure Coach Ivlow has them do often in practice, but very rarely is it executed like that during a game.

"It was a special play for a special player, and I am sure he will excel at a very high level of college football."

That play alone brought college football recruiters to Bolingbrook, with Purdue University, Colorado, Eastern Illinois and Illinois State as primary suitors. That touchdown run also fit Holliday like a Sunday morning suit.

"It felt good," Holliday said. "It was my second time doing it, since I did the same thing my freshman year on the freshman team when I took the ball away and ran like 20 yards. This time, I ran about 70 or 72 yards."

Pausing for effect, Holliday let out a fun-loving laugh, allowing himself a rare moment to bask in the spotlight.

"It was a nice, nice run," he nodded. "In practice, I was trying to do that for the whole week and I finally got it."

"To take the ball out of a running back's hands and go almost 75 yards for a touchdown against an elite team like that with speed in the backfield and no one could catch him was amazing," Corra said. "And he made it there with about 10 or 15 yards to spare, too."

On that trek, Holliday did not require a spare tire, riding his blockers in a stunning show of needed speed.

"Just the other day, I was talking to a coach who had spoken with Lincoln-Way East's quarterback Spencer Stanek," Ivlow said. "He asked Stanek, 'What happened? Why couldn't you catch the Bolingbrook kid.' And Stanek said, 'He had an escort with him on that TD.' And he was moving, too."

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Providence Catholic offensive tackle Patrick Ward, the GRIDIRON Offensive Player of the Year, grew up wanting to be a quarterback. He stands 6-7, 290 pounds. Holliday, a shade shorter but a legit 6-3 and 10 pounds heavier, idolized Brett Favre. What is it about linemen and quarterbacks, protecting or chasing them?

"I don't know," Holliday said. "But for some reason, I liked the Green Bay Packers, I liked their wide receivers and I liked their quarterback. And Brett Favre was my favorite player."

Fast forward six years and Favre is the quarterback for the New York Jets. As Holliday recalled, "I wasn't quick enough for the quarterback position. I could throw the ball far, but that's it." In time, he gravitated naturally to the plan of creating logjams inside for his linebackers and the joy that comes from winning battles others eschew.

"It's fun because most of the time you're one-on-one or one-on-two," Holliday said. "I love it when it's one against two, when you have to beat out two people to get to the quarterback or to stop the run. I like that a lot."

Ideally, Ivlow would prefer Holliday pave his next-level path to Eastern Illinois, the collegiate home of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.

"I'd really like to see him go to an Eastern because he could dominate there," Ivlow said. "Too many people get caught up with the big schools, and you can get caught up in the shuffle there. Schools like Eastern, you still get a lot of exposure, they play in good conference and they have been able to send guys to the NFL, too."

"You know, 'Rosey' has a big upside," Corra said. "He's very soft-spoken, very quiet, but he became a leader out there for us by example, and he's very mature in his mental approach to the game. He gets it."

While Holliday has been getting increased attention from NCAA Division I schools, that maturity has made him realize what is in his rear-view mirror.

"Yeah, I'm going to miss it," Holliday said of the Raider Nation. "I don't think college is going to be as fun as high school was. I hear a lot of people say that, and I'm really going to miss it."

The concept of a can't-miss prospect is about as reliable as the weatherman's forecast. Roosevelt Holliday, however, will be helped in the future by a simple-yet-striking motto to stalk offensive lines with size, strength and symmetry.

Speak small. Play big.