Rookie safety “Hot Rod” Gerod Holliman is busy these days making impressions.
His smile can blind you by flashing 12 gold teeth layered across the front. He whips out his resume and up pop those 14 interceptions at Louisville that led the NCAA in 2014, which upped his nickname from Hot Rod to Hot Robbery among his teammates.
Yet the biggest imprint Holliman, 5 feet 10, 218 pounds, made through the first two weeks of training camp came in practice on Wednesday when he flashed something entirely different.
With questions swirling around his college play about either his inability or desirability to tackle someone, Holliman laid out 260-pound fullback Roosevelt Nix with the help of linebacker Jordan Zumwalt on a pass reception.