Torry Jabar Holt (born June 5, 1976) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons. He was named to the Pro Bowl seven times and retired with the 10th most receiving yards, including a record six consecutive seasons with 1,300 yards. He played college football for the NC State Wolfpack, and earned consensus All-American honors. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the first round of the 1999 NFL Draft, and spent the next ten years with the Rams and is remembered as one of the members of "The Greatest Show on Turf".
Early years
Holt grew up in Gibsonville, North Carolina. He was Prep Football Report All-America selection, adding all-state honors at Eastern Guilford High School in Gibsonville. While there, he caught 129 passes during his career, gaining 2,573 yards and scoring 42 touchdowns including 56 receptions for 983 yards and 17 touchdowns as senior. He also returned three punts and three kickoffs for touchdowns during his career. Additionally, Holt was a standout defensive back who posted 62 tackles and four interceptions as senior. He was named one of the Top 25 players in the state by the Charlotte Observer. After high school, Holt attended Hargrave Military Academy in 1995. There he caught 21 passes for 524 yards and six touchdowns. Torry also appeared with then-teammate Marshall Faulk in Nelly's Air Force Ones music video.
College career
Holt attended North Carolina State University, and played wide receiver for the NC State Wolfpack football team from 1995 to 1998. In his senior year, Holt was named Atlantic Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year. That season, he set ACC records of 88 receptions (since broken by Kenneth Moore of Wake Forest) for 1,604 yards and an NC State record of 16 touchdown receptions. Holt was a consensus first-team All-American as senior. He was also a finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top receiver. As a junior, he led the team, setting Wolfpack season records with 62 receptions for 1,099 yards, topping marks of 55 by Naz Worthen (1988) while becoming the first player in team history to gain more than 1,000 yards in a season. He started in five of the first seven games as sophomore. He majored in sociology. Holt's number, 81, was retired in 1999.
College statistics
Professional career
Pre-draft
After injuring his knee at the Senior Bowl, Holt, at 192 pounds, ran a 4.44 second 40-yard dash and had a vertical jump of 37 inches at the 1999 NFL Combine
St. Louis Rams
Holt was the sixth overall draft pick in the 1999 NFL Draft and the first selection made by the St. Louis Rams. On July 23, 1999, Holt signed a five-year, $10 million contract, including a $5.4 million signing bonus, with the Rams. In his rookie season, he posted 52 receptions, 788 total yards and six touchdowns on the way to the Super Bowl XXXIV championship. From 1999 to 2001, the Rams scored over 500 points each season, and their offense was dubbed "The Greatest Show on Turf".
For the six seasons from 2000 to 2005, Holt reached at least 1,300 yards every season, a league record of six consecutive seasons. Holt's streak was broken in 2006, due to injuries to himself and other teammates that hindered the offense for parts of the season. Holt came into the NFL as #88, but in 2002 changed his number to 81 (worn by Az-Zahir Hakim previously).
Holt's career also includes 7 Pro Bowls (2000, 2001, 2003–2007) including five straight, 74 career touchdowns for 448 points (including 2 two-point conversions) and 920 career receptions. He ranks among the top 10 active leaders in receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and receptions, and has finished in the top ten of those three categories in five straight seasons (2003–2007). Holt has also led the league in receiving yardage on two occasions (2000, 2003), and receptions once (2003). Holt is tenth all time in receiving yards, and eleventh all time in pass receptions.
Prior to the 2003 seasons Holt agreed to a 7-year $42 million contract extension that included a $12.5 million signing bonus. Holt led the NFL in receptions in 2003 and led the NFL in receiving yardage in 2000 and 2003. He was a First-team All-Pro in 2003 and a Second-team selection in 2006. On October 15, 2006, Holt became the fastest player in NFL history to reach 10,000 receiving yards doing so in the sixth game of his eighth season and also to 11,000 yards.
His request for a release was granted by the Rams on March 13, 2009. If he was not released, he would have been due $5.65 and $6.65 million in the last two years of his contract.