#83

Holden Willis

Former tight end at Middle Tennessee. 2024: 53 catches, 871 receiving yards, 6 TD.

TE · Middle Tennessee · Sr. · #83

6′4″ · 212 lb · Greenback, TN

CFB Index 82 · #5 of 135 TEsMedium-low confidenceAll-Conf 1st teamMiddle Tennessee 2024 — college career complete

Recruiting

3★

WR recruit

No. 1922 nationally · Signed with South Florida

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former tight end at Middle Tennessee. 2024: 53 catches, 871 receiving yards, 6 TD.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to South Florida in 2020.
Transferred from South Florida to Middle Tennessee in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Four seasons at Middle Tennessee, 1,680 receiving yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2023) — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

2020

Signed with South Florida3-star out of Greenback School

202311 games

Entered the portal
All-Conference USAfirst

202411 games

All-Conference USAfirst

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#1922 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2021–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

4 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-CONFERENCE USA · 1ST TEAM

All-Conference USA 1st team (2024)

Coaching lineage · 2021–2024

2 coaches

2021–2023

Rick Stockstill

Middle Tennessee

2024

Derek Mason

Middle Tennessee

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Rick Stockstill → Derek Mason. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021South Florida2-10HC: Jeff Scott · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2022South Florida1-11HC: Jeff Scott · Run-leaning

2023Middle Tennessee4-8HC: Rick Stockstill · Balanced

2024Middle Tennessee3-9HC: Derek Mason · Pass-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

82All-Conference level #5 of 135?

Medium-low confidence11 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: explosive rate (97th percentile). Strength: epa / target (95th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#18 / 610 · 97th pct

32.1%

EPA / target#31 / 610 · 95th pct

1.49

Catch rate#1 / 610 · 91st pct

100.0%

Yards / catch#68 / 610 · 89th pct

16.4

TD rate#99 / 610 · 84th pct

11.3%

Box-score rates (6)

Yards / catch#3 / 168 · 99th pct

16.4

Rec yards#4 / 168 · 98th pct

871

Receptions#9 / 168 · 95th pct

Long catch#13 / 168 · 93rd pct

Rec TDs#13 / 168 · 90th pct

Fumbles lost#1 / 47 · 72nd pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / target

81st → 95th percentile

Explosive rate

96th → 97th percentile

Catch rate

95th → 91st percentile

TD rate

84th → 84th percentile

Yards / catch

80th → 89th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	4.2	67.5	17.4	0.3
Road5g	5.6	93.2	16.5	0.8

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	4.2	66.5	16.3	0.3
Weeks 8+5g	5.6	94.4	17.7	0.8

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Derek Mason

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

our read the All-Conference 1st team honor is earned — and the box score backs it up emphatically: #5 of 135 FBS tight ends by CFB Index Score.2024 profile

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

82 · #5 of 135 TEs

Three-star recruit. Now #5 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Middle Tennessee	53	871	16.4	6	--
2023	Middle Tennessee	46	697	15.2	5	--
2022	South Florida	6	69	11.5	1	--
2021	South Florida	2	43	21.5	0	--
Career		107	1,680	15.7	12	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2024

W 32–25

vs Tennessee Tech

2 rec · 32 yds

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 7 at home.

With N. Vattiato — 210 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 38.4 · 4 rush yds (3 car) · G. Chadwick — 35 AVG · 38 LONG · 2 NO

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 9 · Jacksonville State · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +4.86Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 61 yds for a TD (Zeke Rankin KICK)
Week 13 · New Mexico State · 1&20 · Q4 · EPA +3.86Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 43 yds to the NMSU 42 for a 1ST down
Week 14 · Florida International · 2&1 · Q2 · EPA +3.86Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 56 yds for a TD (Zeke Rankin KICK)
Week 1 · Tennessee Tech · 3&6 · Q1 · EPA +3.38Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 25 yds to the TNTC 43 for a 1ST down
Week 14 · Florida International · 2&6 · Q2 · EPA +3.34Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 37 yds for a TD (Zeke Rankin KICK)
Week 4 · Duke · 2&15 · Q3 · EPA +3.10Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 15 yds for a TD (Zeke Rankin KICK)
Week 11 · Liberty · 3&9 · Q3 · EPA +3.07Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 22 yds to the MTSU 48 for a 1ST down
Week 13 · New Mexico State · 2&11 · Q3 · EPA +2.87Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 12 yds for a TD (Zeke Rankin KICK)
Week 7 · Louisiana Tech · 3&3 · Q1 · EPA +2.76Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 35 yds to the LT 18 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Kennesaw State · 3&5 · Q3 · EPA +2.67Nicholas Vattiato pass complete to Holden Willis for 25 yds to the KENN 25 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 32-25vs Tennessee Tech	2	32	16.0	0	25
Wk 2	L 3-52@ Ole Miss	6	93	15.5	0	29
Wk 3	L 21-49vs Western Kentucky	4	73	18.3	0	32
Wk 4	L 17-45vs Duke	3	60	20.0	1	23
Wk 5	L 7-24@ Memphis	5	62	12.4	0	25
Wk 7	L 21-48@ Louisiana Tech	5	79	15.8	1	35
Wk 8	W 14-5vs Kennesaw State	8	92	11.5	0	25
Wk 9	L 20-42@ Jacksonville State	6	109	18.2	1	61
Wk 11	L 17-37vs Liberty	5	81	16.2	0	22
Wk 13	L 21-36vs New Mexico State	3	67	22.3	1	43
Wk 14	L 24-35@ Florida International	6	123	20.5	2	56	Season-high 123 yds
Total		53	871	17.0	6	61

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology