"Ex-Dukes LB Holloway Is Off To Ottawa"

As much as I enjoy looking back, sometimes it's nice to look ahead, too.

We can safely assume that the 2021 roster will be vastly different from the planned 2020 edition. The team has never been shy about filling the roster with younger players with little or no CFL experience. Attempts to reduce salary expenditures will only strengthen that philosophy, no doubt, so we might want to started getting to know some of these guys now. 

Meet Dimitri Holloway, signed December 7th (according to the CFL's transactions report). If the link goes dead, the article below is by Greg Madia for the Daily News-Record and was edited to remove some CFL basics that would be common knowledge to RedBlacks fans (such as the wider field, etc.)

Dimitri Holloway’s confidence never dimmed.

“I felt like with what I did my senior year that someone would take notice,” the former standout James Madison linebacker said.

Nearly 12 months removed from playing for the last time as a member of the Dukes in their FCS championship game loss to North Dakota State, Holloway finally knows where his pro football career will start.

Earlier this week, Holloway signed with the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League. He said Ottawa general manager Marcel Desjardins initially reached out through Twitter to gauge Holloway’s interest.

“It was different,” Holloway said. “But I was glad someone saw the work I put in while I was in school. I did have a few [National Football League] teams that had reached out pre-draft, but nothing other than that, so it was a good feeling to know there was someone out there watching me.”

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Last fall, Holloway racked up 124 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, five pass breakups and three fumble recoveries. He was an All-American by the Associated Press and a first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association choice. His 124 total tackles topped the CAA.

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“[Desjardins] was very fond of how I played on the field,” Holloway, who had 329 tackles during career at JMU, said. “And he was very specific, so I knew he took interest in me the right way by the way he was talking about me.”

The timing couldn’t be better, too, according to Holloway. In the title bout, he injured his shoulder and underwent surgery in February to repair it. Holloway said he was finishing up his physical therapy and rehab around the same time Desjardins inquired about him.

More importantly, Holloway will be well beyond a year past his surgery when he suits up for the Redblacks for the first time.

Holloway said he’ll move to Ottawa in late April or early May ahead of training camp in anticipation for the Redblacks’ scheduled season-opening contest against Montreal on June 11.

“Can’t say enough good things about Dimitri Holloway,” JMU coach Curt Cignetti said. “At the end of the day when the defense was out there on the field [in 2019], his voice was the one that carried the most weight. Ron’Dell [Carter] controlled the team a little, but Dimitri on defense. He’s just such a likable guy and has got such a great personality. Loves to play football. He’s a really good football player, really instinctive.”

Holloway said he’s already started watching game film of Ottawa’s recent seasons to get a feel for the adjustments he’ll have to make to be successful in the CFL.

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“I feel like my game will translate well because I love to run sideline-to-sideline,” Holloway said. “It’s just going to be a little bit wider sidelines. It’s no big deal. I will have to get my conditioning a little bit better, but football is football at the end of the day and that’s what I tell people. I’ve still got to tackle the same way and cover people the same way, so it’s simple things I’ve got pick up on.”

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Holloway is committed to at least two years in Canada, he said, and is excited about the move. He said spoke with his brother about living outside the United States since his brother is in the military and has lived away from the U.S. before. Holloway said he also plans to talk to ex-JMU quarterbacks Bryan Schor and Vad Lee, who each had their own previous stints in the CFL.

“It’s a great opportunity for me,” Holloway said. “And I’ll go out there, take advantage of it the best way I can, because that’s all I’ve been working for since I had the injury back in the championship game. Once is set my mind to what I wanted to do with my next step, I just focused on it and kept on grinding.”