Tag: Tayon Holloway

Tayon Holloway latest Tar Heel to enter transfer portal

The UNC football teams needs all the defensive assistance it can get. One of its 2023 defensive starters, unfortunately, is transferring.

As explosive as the UNC football team is offensively, that same team struggles significantly on the defensive side of the football.

The Tar Heels gave us fans life early in the season – sacking South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler nine times in Week 1, holding Syracuse to single-digits and limiting Minnesota QB Athas Kaliakmanis to a less-than 50% completion rate.

That excitement was short-lived, as a then-1-win UVA team torched UNC for 436 yards in a Cavaliers upset. The following week on Halloween Saturday, Georgia Tech exploded for 635 yards in a Yellow Jackets win.

Point being – Carolina needs all the defensive help it can get. With transfer portal season alive and well, the Tar Heels will need to attract defensive players.

It’s not a good sign when UNC is losing defensive players, which is exactly what happened on Tuesday afternoon.

Tayon Holloway, a redshirt-freshman starting cornerback, announced his decision to enter the transfer portal.

Holloway, a Virginia Beach native, appeared in every game but the Campbell and Duke ones. He totaled 19 tackles (16 solo, 1.5 for loss) and one pass breakup, with his best game coming in the opener against South Carolina (four solo tackles, one for loss).

Will Holloway go back to his home state of Virginia, play somewhere else in the ACC or head far away? Stay tuned in our transfer portal tracker.

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Alabama pursuing 2022 4-star CB Tayon Holloway

Four-star cornerback Tayon Holloway out of Virginia Beach (Va.) landed an offer from Alabama on Wednesday.

Four-star cornerback Tayon Holloway joined several other players on Wednesday in announcing that they had landed an offer from the University of Alabama.

The Virginia Beach (Va.) native took to Twitter to share the news:

In addition to Holloway, several other top recruits for the 2022 class, including running back Le’Veon Moss, wide receiver Shazz Preston, Dani Dennis-Sutton and fellow cornerback Laterrance Welch, shared the news of their offers.

Holloway is an interesting prospect. Currently at 5-foot-11, 170-pounds, the need to continue to add some length and overall size is there. But considering he was only a sophomore this past season, there’s no reason to believe that he can’t make that growth.

According to the 247Sports composite rankings, Holloway is rated as the No. 183 overall player, No. 22 cornerback and No. 9 player from the state of Virginia.

Alabama is now the second SEC school to offer the Green Run High School standout, joining Tennessee, who offered him back in March of 2019.

Here is what Brian Dohn with 247Sports had to say about Holloway:

Long, lean frame with good length. Can easily add 15 to 20 pounds without impacting skill set. Loose hips and smooth athlete. Transitions easily from backpedal to running with receiver. Does best work as field corner. Has speed to track on long crossing patterns. Gets out of breaks on receiver’s hip. Possesses closing speed. Good ball skills. Comfortable in backpedal. Has to add strength. Must improve on jam ability to re-route receiver. Must become bigger factor in run game. Multi-year starter at Top 20 program. Day 3 NFL draft potential.

Nick Saban has always preferred his cornerbacks, especially on the perimeter, to have a lot of length, so despite the fact the more mass is needed, Holloway is already looking like he’ll have the body type Alabama looks for at the position.

Stay tuned for more recruiting updates on Holloway and other top Alabama targets from Roll Tide Wire, part of USA TODAY Sports!

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