Warrick Holdman
Encyclopedia
Warrick Donte Holdman is an American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 who is currently a free agent
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....

. He was originally drafted
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...

 by the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in the fourth round of the 1999 NFL Draft
1999 NFL Draft
The 1999 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 17-18, 1999...

. He played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 at Texas A&M
Texas A&M Aggies football
The Texas A&M Aggies football team represents Texas A&M University in college football. The Aggies have competed in the Big 12 Conference since the conference's inception in 1996. They will join the Southeastern Conference in July 2012. Texas A&M football has earned one national title and 18...

.

Early years

Holdman was a Super Prep All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n selection, first team Class 5A all-state and all-greater Houston first team as a senior at Alief Elsik High School
Alief Elsik High School
Alief Elsik High School is a secondary school located in the Alief region of Houston, Texas.Elsik is divided into two campuses: the main campus , and the Alief Elsik Ninth Grade Center , which serves ninth graders...

 in Alief. He was rated as one of the top linebackers in the nation after totaling 151 tackles and three sacks as a senior.

College career

Holdman was recruited by Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

 and granted medical redshirt in 1994. As a freshman, he played in nine games with one start and ended the season with 44 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. In his sophomore season in 1996, he finished second on the team with 73 tackles and added 2.5 sacks, three pass defenses and a forced fumble. As a junior, Holdman started every game and finished with 81 tackles, five sacks and played in the Cotton Bowl Classic. He was named an All-America honorable mention by College Sports News as senior in 1998. Holdman was first a team all-Big 12 Conference
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

 selection. He finished with 95 tackles, eight pass break-ups, seven sacks, five forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and one interception. He finished career with 294 tackles, 46 for losses, 16.5 sacks and seven forced fumbles.

Professional career

Holdman was drafted
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...

 in the 1999 NFL Draft
1999 NFL Draft
The 1999 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 17-18, 1999...

 by the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

. That year, Holdman started as nickel linebacker and on special teams before landing a starting spot on the weak side. He played in all 16 games, and had 75 tackles. He also had two sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and 11 special teams tackles. Holdman had a superb sophomore season in 2000, in which he had 87 tackles. He also added nine tackles on special teams. In 2001, Holdman came back strong after rehabilitating his injured left knee, starting 15 of 16 games, recording a career-high 145 tackles and three forced fumbles. Unfortunately, in 2002, he started the first four games before suffering a season-ending right knee injury. In his fifth season with the Bears in 2003, he returned from a knee injury to start 13 games and totaled 79 tackles. Holdman was then traded to the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in 2004, where he appeared in all 16 games, starting 14, and posted 110 tackles, a half sack and three pass breakups. He then moved to the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

in 2005, where he played in 14 games, starting 7 of them. On April 26, 2007 he signed a one-year deal with the Broncos. On February 11, 2008 the Broncos released him.

External links

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