Ole Miss forward Murphy Holloway is working out for NFL teams

The Rebel Grove reported on Monday that the Rebels’ all-time leading rebounder finds himself in a tough spot when it comes to NBA scouts. He excelled at the college level, averaging 14.5 points and 9.7 rebounds his senior year, but at 6’6 he is undersized to play his current position of power forward.

As someone who does well patrolling the post, Holloway also lacks the speed and mobility needed on the wing to play small forward. Holloway acknowledges that he might has a hard path to move up the draft board, and would land anywhere from the middle of the second round to not even hearing his name called.

Holloway said he has had workouts with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baltimore Ravens on campus, and has a scheduled workout with the Philadelphia Eagles later this week. He also said more teams are contacting him, anywhere from eight to 10 total, but he still has school obligations to work around with his schedule.

He said that most of the teams are approaching him as a tight-end, but also pointed out he was told, “if you can’t catch, then defensive end.” Holloway laughed in an interview with reporters on Rebel Grove, pointing out that although his traditional football experience is minimal, he only dropped one pass in his workouts.

At 240 pounds, Holloway has the weight to fall in line with most tight ends, and has a couple of inches on many. He also wouldn’t be the first NFL tight end to make the jump from basketball. Antonio Gates played basketball throughout college and was signed by the Chargers as an undrafted free agent. Tony Gonzalez, the most productive NFL tight end of all time, played both football and basketball for the California Bears.

Here is another interview on the matter courtesy of Ole Miss Spirit.

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