Former Arizona Wildcat Justin Holt thriving at Eastern Arizona College
Former Arizona Wildcat Justin Holt finding a new road to play football in college and he is thriving.
Last you heard probably, legacy Arizona Wildcat defensive tackle Justin Holt, son of former Wildcat Julius Holt, had hung up his cleats in Arizona. But that is not the case. Holt retired from football after he received news that the results from a concussion while playing for Arizona would end his football career. But the timing was all off. Doctors cleared Holt after he retired from the Wildcats organization.
“I had a concussion while I was at Arizona, I didn’t think I was good to play. It got better, so then I thought I was good but by the time it got better, the situation at Arizona went awry, so I just picked a different school,” explained Holt.
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Holt got good news and that left the door open for him to continue playing football. He and his family had long talks and Justin made the decision to continue to play the sport he loves so much. He just wasn’t ready to give up his dreams. This is his second year of college but in his first year of eligibility.
Enter Eastern Arizona College in the ACCAC, or Arizona Community College Athletic Conference. Holt has three games under his belt going into the weekend and he is feeling pretty positive about his performances. He is averaging seven tackles and .5 sacks and is happy he is back on the field.
“Football is football here [Eastern Arizona College], and it’s more fun to play I guess,” said Holt, “I’m just out there playing trying to get looks.”
We caught up with Holt this week to get his thoughts on how he made it through the summer and his future.
What is Holts coach working on with him? “My technique and the basics really, just trying to making everything as fine as possible, my coach is really good he knows his stuff so I try to listen to everything he says.”
What did he do over the summer to prepare for his fall semester? “I just ran,” stated Holt. He confirmed he did not lose weight, just got conditioned. His high school friends helped him get his mind off of things.
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Holt is especially proud of his first stat ever in a college football game, he sacked the Western quarterback! “That was pretty cool,” said Holt. But what gave him more confidence, what helped him feel like he was back playing football at a high level with a tackle for a loss by splitting a double team he recorded against Mesa last weekend. “I just felt like I was capable of playing again and that’s was a good moment for me.”
How about the future? “It’s cool because like the recruiting I had, I get to start over, I’m getting some looks from four-year schools,” said Holt. After just three games, he already has four-year programs scouting him, wow!
“Everybody is pretty cool we all just hang out together, we practice.”
“To be honest it’s more perseverance,” explained Holt, ” I made the decision to stop playing, because of where I thought I was physically, and it turned out not to be that way and I made the decision to start playing again. So I am just more doing it for myself.”
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I asked Justin how he felt about his situation and the future and this is how he responded: “I feel like I’m where I need to be, honestly I just want to play football!” Follow Justin Holt on Twitter to see how his football career is going (@Juice__50).