Almost eight years after NFL athlete Mack Hollins played football at this school, he is in the midst of one of the best seasons of his career.

Hollins journey to the NFL has been an interesting one After he graduated high school in 2013, Hollins attended Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia until walking onto the football team at The University of North Carolina from 2013 to 2016. After earning the starting job at UNC, he compiled a total of 81 receptions, 1,667 yards, and 20 touchdowns. “Hollins’ journey to the NFL is a good reminder that with dedication and hard work, you can do anything. He went from walking on at a D1 school and not even playing his first year, to being a Super Bowl champion,” junior Andrew Lim said.

Hollins has bounced around the league since being drafted in 2017. In 2018, Hollins played a key role in aiding the Philadelphia Eagles in winning Super Bowl LII: You can find one of the game balls from that Super Bowl in the display case located in the Commons. Other teams that he has played for are the Miami Dolphins, the Las Vegas Raiders, the Atlanta Falcons and the team he currently plays for, the Buffalo Bills.

Hollins played for the Eagles during the 2017, 2018 and some of the 2019 season; he was claimed off waivers by the Dolphins after being dropped by the Eagles. From there he spent the rest of the 2019 season along with the 2020 and 2021 season with the Dolphins. After that he signed a one-year deal with the Raiders and would have stayed with them, except he wanted to sign a multi-year deal that the Raiders didn’t want to give him. He was then picked up by the Falcons, until eventually ending up with the Bills.

This season, Hollins has started 16 games for the Buffalo Bills, During that time he has accumulated 31 receptions, 378 yards and averages 12.2 yards per reception along with five touchdowns. His best season was in 2022 when he was with the Raiders, where he had 57 receptions, 690 yards and 15 touchdowns. “I think it’s really cool how someone from our school is making such a big impact at such a high level,” senior football player Anthony Derba said.

While Hollins is a good player, his impact spreads outside of football. He has a big personality that he shows across his social media platforms in which he has amassed around 489k followers. Hollins shares funny challenges, informational how-to videos, and silly Bills content. “I love watching the stuff that he posts, it’s always funny but the advice he gives is also really helpful. Besides being helpful though, Hollins’ videos remind people that they can do what they love and still have fun while doing it,” Bills fan and senior David Goke-Dele said.