Hello From The Future: Jeremiah Holloman

[Isaiah Hole/247Sports]

Michigan's 2017 class grew to five over the weekend with the addition of Covington (GA) Newton WR Jeremiah Holloman. Holloman plays high school ball with 2017 RB commit Kurt Taylor and 2017 S Jaquan Henderson, a UCLA commit who is expected to strongly consider joining his teammates at Michigan after a recent visit and offer.

While Holloman is either a three-star or unranked on the recruiting services, his tape suggests he's an early steal for the Wolverines; there's four-star potential here.

GURU RATINGS

Holloman gets cursory three-star ratings from Scout and Rivals and is unranked on the other two sites. Considering the dearth of scouting reports on him, this probably has as much to do with a lack of evaluations as anything else; he should see his rankings climb as the sites get around to looking at his junior film.

Holloman has a solid frame for an outside receiver, listed at 6'3", 190-195 pounds on three of the four sites (ESPN has him at 6'2", 187). He's got a stockier build that helps make him difficult to haul down after the catch.

[Hit THE JUMP for the informative portion.]

SCOUTING

As you might expect, there isn't a ton out there on Holloman. Newton's 7-on-7 squad captured a tournament title at Georgia in June, which served as a breakout performance of sorts for Holloman, according to 247's Jake Rowe:

Holloman is a name we didn't know coming into the day but we definitely know it now. At 6-foot-3, 185 pounds the rising junior made a ton of plays for Newton County and was virtually unstoppable at times. He gave defensive backs fits all day with his size and strength at the top of the route.

He also stood out to UGASports.com's Jake Reuse, who said Holloman"was able to get above anyone at camp and snag a few really nice touchdowns."

Our other evaluations come from Holloman's junior film. Magnus at TTB sees Holloman as a future consensus four-star prospect:

Holloman’s rankings are underwhelming at this point, and two of the four major recruiting services have yet to rank him. That will change. If his athletic measurements are to be believed, his leaping ability and strength are outstanding. He won the state triple jump competition as a sophomore, so even if he doesn’t have a 40″ vertical and a 460 lb. squat, he’s still an explosive athlete. He has a big body and a great frame, and that helps him to be a plus blocker who can wall off defensive backs. Holloman also possesses good speed, perhaps deceptively so, because defenses sometimes take poor angles to catch him. He’s capable of taking short passes and breaking big runs, partly because he runs through contact so well. When he reaches full size in college – probably around 210-215 lbs., at least – he will be very difficult for defenders to bring down.

Magnus says Holloman is "on par" with 2016 commit Ahmir Mitchell, which would make him a borderline top-100 guy.

247's Clint Brewster also provided a film evaluation after Holloman's commitment:

Holloman is a bigger wider receiver at 6-foot-3 that will line up on the outside and make plays outside the numbers. He can go overtop of the defensive backs vertically with his range and frame. Holloman has strong hands and also catches the ball well on the underneath throws. He runs pretty solid routes as a receiver that still has a lot of raw areas to his game. He's still a young player as a 2017 prospect and could end up being a 6-foot-4, 200 plus pound receiver. He's tough to bring down after the catch and has nice body control. Holloman is a guy that can be productive receiver at the next level with his hands and ability to catch contested passes, along with his route running.

Holloman reminds me quite a bit of Amara Darboh. While he's not a startling athlete or straight-line burner—though he's by no means deficient in either category—he can make difficult catches on both short and downfield throws, and his size/strength combination makes him a serious threat after the catch.

OFFERS

Holloman holds offers from Arkansas State, Cincinnati, Georgia Southern, Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, Troy, UAB, UNLV, and Vanderbilt. Michigan was the first big-time program to get seriously involved in his recruitment.

HIGH SCHOOL

The most important thing about Newton right now is that it's also home to Taylor and Henderson; it could become Michigan's Georgia equivalent of Flanagan (Florida) or Prattville (Alabama). The rest I'll C&P from Taylor's commit post:

While Newton plays in the largest classification in Georgia (6A), they haven't produced much in the way of college talent: Taylor and 2011 Virginia signee DJ Hill are the only three-star prospects to come out of Newton in the Rivals era (2002-present).

Based on Rivals rankings, you can add Henderson and Holloman to that list.

STATS

Via The Wolverine's Tim Sullivan:

He used those athletic skills to put together a nice year on the field this fall as a junior. He caught 32 passes for 632 yards (19.8 per reception) and seven touchdowns. That led the team by nearly 200 yards, and he also added an 80-yards kickoff return touchdown.

As you'll see, a lot of those yards came after the catch.

FAKE 40 TIME

Holloman has a SPARQ-verified time of 4.69 seconds, which gets zero FAKEs. His straight-line speed is solid, not spectacular. Some of his other testing numbers jump off the page, namely his 38.6" vertical—he can go up and get the ball. Per Sullivan, Holloman's can jump quite far in addition to jumping quite high:

He won the Georgia 6A state title in triple jump this spring with an effort of 47 feet, 5.5 inches. He also placed sixth in both the long jump (22-0.25) and high jump (6-4).

That explosiveness translates to the field. As discussed in Nate Johnson's recent commitment post, that type of athleticism also helps receivers explode off the line and get in and out of breaks.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

Sophomore highlights and single-game reels can be found on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

While freshman receivers usually have a tough time making an immediate contribution, Holloman will at least get a shot to see the field early; he'll arrive in 2017, when the starting spots currently occupied by Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh will be open for competition.

Michigan fans certainly hope that a couple players from the returning group of Drake Harris, Moe Ways, Jaron Dukes, and the incoming 2016 freshmen (Hawkins, Mitchell, and possibly one more) will take those spots on the outside, but there isn't a sure thing there. Holloman will get a chance to show he can be a reliable possession receiver from day one; even if he doesn't crack the two-deep in his first year on campus, he should become a significant contributor by the end of his career.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

The class as it currently stands:

It's still far too early to project a class size or specific needs with any accuracy. The significant upshot from Holloman's commitment is Michigan's apparently good chance of flipping his teammate, safety Jaquan Henderson, from UCLA. Both Crystal Ball picks for Henderson, including one from Steve Lorenz, are for Michigan.