Current Oakland Raiders and Hillsdale alumni Jared Veldheer ‘09 and Andre Holmes ‘11 made strides this season, proving their ability to play at the highest level and further establishing their place in the NFL. Their play was one of the few highlights in an otherwise disappointing 4-12 Raiders season.
“Your main focus (in the NFL) is on trying to make the most of your opportunities,” Holmes said.
Wide receiver Holmes made the most of his opportunities this season setting a career best in receptions, recording his first 100+ yard game and scoring his first touchdown. Holmes described scoring his first touchdown as “surreal.”
“On play I was not even an option, as far as scoring a touchdown. I was supposed to occupy the corner that was on me, and a guy was going to run a slant underneath me. I looked back and no one had gotten the ball yet, so I just made myself open. No one else was open and I got the ball.”
For Holmes, the biggest game of the season was against his former team, the Dallas Cowboys: “If I had a calendar on my refrigerator, this game was the one I marked an ‘X’ on.”
Holmes had seven receptions and 136 yards in that game, which Holmes said gave him “confidence about what he could do on game day.”
Holmes described playing on the same NFL team as former college teammate Jared Veldheer as “crazy.”
“Hillsdale is such a small school and we’re not in a premier division of the NCAA. Sometimes I’d notice that Jared was in the same huddle…it’s really cool to represent HIllsdale in that way.”
A torn tricep kept offensive tackle Jared Veldheer off the field for all but the last five games of the season. Though the injury was a setback, Veldheer played well in his return, holding opposing teams to only six sacks in the last five games. In the eleven games Veldheer didn’t play, the Raider’s quarterback was sacked 39 times.
Though his season is over, Veldheer has been in the news recently because his contract with the Raiders is ending in March.
In a radio interview with Oakland’s 95.7 FM, Veldheer said, “I’m really hoping and I’m pretty confident that I’ll continue to keep playing in Oakland.”
Talks between Veldheer and the Raiders have been going on since the end of last season, but a deal has not yet been reached.
Showcased by the success of Holmes and Veldheer, the Hillsdale football program has experienced tremendous success the last few years with a number of Hillsdale Football players getting tryouts in the NFL.
“We’ve been fortunate to have probably a dozen [Hillsdale football players] go to (NFL) camps,” said Keith Otterbein, Hillsdale’s head football coach.
Though a number of players have gotten tryouts with NFL teams, only three have made it past final preseason cuts: Holmes, Veldheer, and cornerback Nick Hixson ‘12. Holmes and Veldheer are the only players to have made it into a game, with Hixson playing on the practice squads of both the New Orleans Saints and more recently, before being cut in August, the Carolina Panthers.
