Valentine Holmes is putting everything on the line to live out his NFL dream
In the space of just six months Valentine Holmes has gone from NRL superstar to NFL contender. The former Kangaroo details just how he did it — and what comes next to David Riccio.
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From his apartment in Florham Park, a small town in New Jersey, Valentine Holmes rides a 6.30am shuttle-bus to work each morning.
He’s been up since 6am.
He has a quick stretch, gets dressed and then before heading downstairs for his ride, he memorises, takes notes and reads sections, of the thousand-page New York Jets playbook.
The New York Jets’ state of the art training centre, 48km west of New York City, is a short five-minute commute from where Holmes shares his modest apartment with fellow Jets rookie, Calvin Anderson a left tackle from Rice University’s Rice Owls.
Holmes, 23, doesn’t have to think about how he’ll get to work each day with the Jets providing his daily transport.
Neither, does he have to think about breakfast, lunch or dinner.
“We’re looked after quite a bit,’’ Holmes says.
“All I have to think about is waking-up excited and going to try and make it happen.’’
‘It’ is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
A journey which began by giving up a $5 million contract with NRL club Cronulla for a potential $181,000 contract, if he becomes a Jets practice squad member.
There’re no guarantees.
But with focus and maturity, he is pushing himself towards becoming Australia’s next pro-footballer in the NFL.
Sitting down with The Sunday Telegraph while in Sydney on Thursday, Holmes is back home until July 19 after spending the past six weeks in pre-season training with the Jets.
He is currently one of 92 players with the New York franchise striving to receive a full-time playing contract on the Jets’ 53-man NFL roster, which will be selected on September 1.
A further 10 players will be chosen as practice squad players, who sit outside the 53.
Holmes, given his stunning kick-returns and long-range tries while playing for Australia, Queensland and winning the 2016 premiership with the Sharks, is transforming his body and mind into that of an NFL running back.
“Obviously the main goal is to get into that 53, but I’ll happily wait in the practice squad and work my way up,’’ Holmes said.
“I feel running back suits my style of running the ball.
“When I have the ball I can be dangerous.
“Returning is obviously similar to fullback and wing, you’re just bringing the ball back as far as you can, that’s where I’d like to play.’’
One unforeseen challenge? His Australian accent.
“The coaches can understand me, but the boys ask me to say something again because they think I talk fast and they can’t understand me,’’ Holmes smiles.
DIFFERENT GAME, DIFFERENT BODY SHAPE
Holmes shakes your hand and immediately you notice his chest is significantly bigger compared to when we last spoke prior to his sudden — and still painful for some Sharks fans — departure from Cronulla last November.
He left the NRL weighing 91kg and has added 3kg of bulk.
“My wife has already told me my bum has got bigger,’’ Holmes laughs.
“I used to wear size 32-inch pants and now I’m definitely 34.
“There’s a lot more longer distance running in rugby league than the NFL.
“You don’t really know how long you’re going to be on the field as a running back so the training we’ve been doing is short, sharp, power, speed work.
“Longer distance running — that’s on your own, if you want to keep fit.
“It’s all banded (resistance bands) work so that’s why I look bigger and I’ve been eating a lot over there.’’
FOOD AND DIET
Anyone who visits the hamburger capital of the world knows of the struggle to eat healthy in the US. Holmes nods his head in agreeance — “the coffee is nothing like ours here” — before explaining the incredible level of professionalism available to the entire Jets roster.
“Every morning when I get to training and have breakfast they have it all ready or you,’’ Holmes said.
“They have chefs so you can order omelettes. It’s the best, you can literally order whatever you want.
“There’s a salad bar, there’s a smoothie bar, you can make fresh smoothies or juices.
“There’s nutrition ladies there and they tell us what we should be eating to coincide with our schedule that day.’’
PLAYBOOK
Holmes had heard stories from Jarryd Hayne’s venture to the San Francisco 49ers and his daily challenge to learn the thousands of pages that make up an NFL playbook.
But the Townsville-born gun didn’t believe its depth until the slab of pages were dropped in front of him.
To his credit, Holmes’ intent to learn, understanding and progression, has impressed members of the Jets coaching staff.
“I couldn’t bring it (home), because it was going to take up most of my luggage because how heavy it is,’’ Holmes said.
“It is what everyone says it is. It’s ridiculous. I always thought people were exaggerating, but it actually is that big.
“I write everything from the playbook into my notebook which is easier for me to understand, rather than look at these pictures and words, that I would just lose my mind over.
“I write during meetings and more so when I go home.
“They tell us we should do 20 to 30 minutes each day and then have a break. I guess it’s working because I’ve been getting the plays down pat.’’
MEET HERE
Noted video session prankster James Maloney would struggle to get past the first day in the NFL.
As Holmes reveals, a majority of his day is consumed by meetings before training, positional specific meetings and preview and review meetings.
“We usually have meetings for most of the morning, then training and we come back, do weights, lunch and then more meetings and then head home,’ Holmes said.
“At the start we have a normal team meeting where there’s 90 of us in a team room where the coach explains what we’re doing for the day.
“That goes for 10 to 15 minutes and then after that it splits up into offence and defence meetings.
“That goes for about an hour and after that it splits into positional meetings, which is when the QBs (quarterbacks) go to a room, receivers to a room, running backs to a room and so on.
“That goes for another hour.
“There’s a lot of meetings, but some of it is video, strategy and what we did the day before.’’
FIELD SESSIONS
Holmes scored a touchdown in practice recently which brought cheers from the Jets sideline.
“The field sessions go for about 90 minutes,’’ Holmes said.
“It starts with warm-ups and stretching on the field together and then you go into your positional groups.
“There’s a thing called RVA’s — Run Verse Air — where the running backs, tight ends and QBs all run against nobody, but just run plays and get your hand eye co-ordination going.
“After that you go into a scrimmage session against the defence and that’s what takes a while and is the main session.
“It gets pretty intense. There’s been a few arguments and a few fights.
“It’s the O-line (offence) and the D-line (defence) going at each other, it’s pretty cool to see.’’
TECHNOLOGY
The US are considered the world-leaders when it comes to boasting the latest technology related to sports science.
But Holmes said the NRL — particularly Cronulla — was on par with the Jets.
“We all wear GPS and it’s all pretty much the same,’’ Holmes said.
“We’ll get a body scan to measure our weight and body fat, which I know plenty of the NRL clubs do too.
“What we do on the field and even in the gym, it’s similar to what we did at the Sharks in the gym.
“We’re doing stuff in the gym, which I thought would be foreign to me, but it’s all pretty similar to what I learned under Andrew Gray (head of high performance at Cronulla).’’
HELMET AND PADS
Aesthetically, Holmes has gone from wearing a skin-tight cotton Sharks jersey with no shoulder pads beneath to be now wearing a 1.5kg helmet and moulded plastic shoulder pads.
“I used to wear headgear as a kid, so I know first-hand that it’s totally different,’’ Holmes said.
“I put on a helmet every day and we do a lot of neck exercises because of the helmet (weight).
“It’s quite a heavy burden on you, as well as cutting half your vision out.
“I give the boys (Jets teammates) huge credit for that fact alone, playing with that. Obviously they’ve been playing since they were kids.
“When I was in Florida training for three months prior to joining the Jets, we were training in helmets and pads and I’m lucky I did that because if I hadn’t have done that and wore it for the first time I was in the Jets, I would’ve been dropping balls every day.
“Ever since, I’ve been fine with it.’’
READY FOR TAKE OFF
Holmes is often the last to leave the training field, pushing himself to do extra work than his teammates as they jostle for a spot on the Jets final 53-man roster.
He remains committed to achieving his lofty goal.
“You literally don’t know what could happen tomorrow — it’s that cut throat,’’ Holmes said.
“So I’m just enjoying being there, working hard every day. I feel like I’m right in the box seat to give them something to look at. I just need that one shot.
“Catching passes from (quarterback) Sam Darnold and to interact with (running back) Ty Montgomery … they help me out every day.
“We get given three footballs to take home, so I’ve always got one in my hand.
“It’s a case of getting myself ready in every possible way.’’
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