CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Trindon Holliday has always had game-breaking speed.

He finally got a chance to show it.

On the Texans’ first kickoff return of the 2012 preseason, Holliday (5-5, 169) raced 90 yards for a touchdown through the Carolina Panthers’ coverage unit at Bank of America Stadium. He finished the preseason opener with three kickoff returns for 159 yards (53.0 average) and three punt returns for 23 yards.

Holliday didn’t play a single snap on offense, but if he continues to return kicks like he did on Saturday night, it won’t matter.

“If Trindon’s going to make this team, he’s going to have to be a special returner, and we’re going to give him every chance to do that,” Texans head coach Gary Kubiak said after the game. “Tonight, he had one hell of a start. He was not only excellent on the big play, but I thought he was very good on all the others ones, too. That could be huge for our team. If’s he’s going to be with us, that’s the most important thing.”

A sixth-round draft pick out of LSU in 2010, Holliday was brought in to be a return specialist, a difference-maker on special teams who could flip field position on a weekly basis.

Instead, he missed his entire rookie season because of a thumb injury suffered in the preseason. He was cut before the start of last season and spent the year on and off of the Texans’ practice squad. He was on the Texans’ active roster for a total of one game in his first two NFL seasons.

No surprise, then, that Holliday couldn’t help but smile when asked about his big touchdown on Saturday in the postgame locker room.

“It was very special,” Holliday said. “It’s a long time coming. I’ve been waiting on that one. My guys gave me a lot of blocking; I just seen one seam and I just hit it and it opened up.”

On the touchdown, Holliday fielded the kick at the 10, bounced it out to the right, followed his blocks and cut left past Panthers kicker Justin Medlock at the Houston 40-yard line. He weaved back to his right and turned on the jets, outrunning any would-be tacklers on his way to the end zone.

“He’s got wheels,” said tight end Garrett Graham, a member of Holliday’s draft class. “He showed it tonight. Trindon can definitely be explosive in the return game.”

Holliday has been clocked in the 4.2s in the 40-yard dash. He won the NCAA 100-meter sprint title in 2009 with a time of 10.00 seconds, the fourth-best time in the world that year and the fastest time in history for a college football player at the time.

He was an eight-time All-American in track and field at LSU. At Northeast High School in Zachary, La., he posted the nation’s fastest indoor times in the 55 and 60-meter dash in 2005. He was a four-time Louisiana state champion in the 200 meters and three-time state champion in the 100 meters. He also was second in his high school state meet in the long jump.

On the football field, Holliday averaged 24.7 yards per kickoff return and 15.0 yards per punt return in four seasons at LSU. He returned four kicks for touchdowns in his career.

Saturday night offered a glimpse at all that talent, but Texans special teams coordinator Joe Marciano still wants to see more.

“I thought he could’ve played a little cleaner,” Marciano said on Saturday. “I thought he could’ve made a better decision fair catch. On one of the punt returns, I thought we had a cutback. On one of the kick returns, looked like he should’ve stayed with the point of attack. Until I see the tape, I could be wrong, but that’s what I saw. I see a young talent with a lot of room to grow. Let’s not anoint him yet; he’s got a long way to go.”

It should be noted that Marciano did smile a minute later when asked about Holliday’s speed.

“I saw it in college,” he said. “I can coach fast guys.”

Holliday knows that one game does not a spot on the roster make. He’s determined to show that Saturday was no fluke.

“It all starts and finishes with consistency,” he said. “I’ve got to be consistent in what I do and just come out, work hard and continue to build off of this.

“It’s been very hard (the last two seasons), but I just have to stay positive. Just have to stay positive with a positive mindset and come out every year and just work hard, and I think this’ll be a special year for me.”


Article by:  Twitter.com/NickScurfield
Props to HoustonTexans.com for the info.

 

HOUSTON – The Houston Texans will celebrate the franchise’s 10th anniversary throughout 2012, the team announced today. The celebration will include a patch on the team’s uniforms bearing a special 10th Anniversary logo (see below) as well as features throughout the year at Texans games and events and online at HoustonTexans.com.

 

In addition to the commemorative logo, the Texans will mark their 10th anniversary by looking back at several key events from the team’s inaugural season in 2002, beginning with the anniversary of the 2002 Expansion Draft, which took place on Feb. 18, 2002. The Expansion Draft was the first series of player transactions in Texans history, with the team selecting 19 players from 14 other NFL clubs. The team will also highlight key moments from its first 10 seasons throughout the year.

Former Houston Texans cornerback Aaron Glenn will speak to media this afternoon to look back at the Expansion Draft.

Glenn was the Texans’ third pick after spending his first eight NFL seasons with the New York Jets. Glenn represented the Texans in the 2003 Pro Bowl, starting at cornerback for the AFC squad. He played three seasons in Houston and remains tied for second in team history with 11 interceptions as a Texan. A Houston native, Glenn became the first player to officially retire as a Houston Texan when he signed a one-day contract with the club on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, and subsequently announced his retirement.

The National Football League awarded its 32nd franchise to Robert C. McNair on Oct. 6, 1999; and the Houston Texans officially entered the League in 2002. The Texans played their first preseason game on Aug. 5, 2002, in the Hall of Fame Game against the New York Giants, and played their first regular season game on Sept. 8, 2002, against the Dallas Cowboys at Reliant Stadium.

Running Game Clothing will be creating an exclusive 10 Year Anniversary shirt that will be released along with our Houston Collection which drops early this Preseason. Be sure to check back to RunningGameClothing.com for updates and to purchase.

Props to HoustonTexans.com for the article.

 

SOURCE: HoustonTexans.com
DeVier Posey (@DPo8) with HoustonTexans.com's Nick Scurfield

Throughout training camp and the 2012 season, Texans rookie wide receiver DeVier Posey, a third-round draft pick from Ohio State, will give insight on his experiences in his Rookie Diary on HoustonTexans.com. To ask DeVier a question, leave a comment below or tweet at the Texans' official Twitter account (@HoustonTexans) with the hashtag #DPoDiary. Follow Posey on Twitter @DPo8.

Through three days of training camp, I can already see that it’s going to be a grind. It’s been almost four months since I’ve been drafted, and in those four months, it’s been all work. It’s definitely a lot different than college. This is your job, and you need take it a lot more serious. I’m enjoying that part, though, and enjoying playing football for a living. It’s fun, and it’s always been something I’ve looked forward to.

For me, it’s big just to be able to go into training camp and know that I’m going to be playing in the first game. After going through a training camp last year at Ohio State and knowing I wasn’t going to be playing for five weeks and it ended up being 10 (because of NCAA suspensions), to come out in this camp and know that I’m getting ready for a purpose has been great. That whole experience in my last year of school, it was hard. I really don’t want to dwell too much on the past; I like to have a short memory, as the people around here say. It was hard, but I’m through it now and I’m just looking forward to the future.

On a typical day in training camp, I get up at 5:55 and I’m at Reliant Stadium by like 6:15. I get in the hot tub for about 10 minutes and do a lap or two in the pool just to wake my body up. I get to the training room, do my movement prep and then I grab some food, head out to the field, practice, come back in, do therapy taking care of my body, and then try to go in and catch some extra film, watch one-on-ones and get some lunch. Then it’s meetings, then back out on the field and then a little more therapy and meetings and then back to the hotel to sleep.

All of the rookies have to live at the team hotel during camp. I’m living with Randy Bullock. Somebody in the media asked me the other day about life at the hotel, but there really is no life at the hotel. You come in and the lights are already off, and they pretty much stay off. The only light that really comes on is the bathroom light when you go to the bathroom. It’s all rest when you get over there because you’re so drained because of these long days. But we have had a lot of time together as rookies with OTAs and mini-camp and the rest of the offseason since the draft, so we’ve had chance to get together and talk and clown around and talk about our goals for the season.

I like the city of Houston so far. It’s hot down here, and they say it’s hot all year ‘round. Coming from Ohio, I’m not too used to that, but for the most part, I like the city.

The fans have been great at training camp, but I kind of imagined that because football comes first in Texas. People love their football. It’s the great state of Texas, and football matters here. I’ve always heard stories and seen movies, so I kind of knew it was going to be like that.

Over these next couple of weeks, I’m just working on becoming a better player all around. I want every nook and cranny in my game to get better. I’m not in college anymore, so I definitely want to make every area of my game better because I’m a pro and I’m going to be going against the best, so I want to be at my best.

You have your mental lapses here and there as you learn the playbook, but I feel like I’m getting better every day. I just want to help the team any way I can. I just want to be able to be a part of it and be able to use my abilities to help this team win a championship.