Meet Mack Hollins, the most interesting man on the Dolphins

If the NFL ever wants to recreate its version of Dos Equis’ “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign, Dolphins wide receiver Mack Hollins might be the perfect pitchman.

Which player celebrates accomplished special teams reps as exuberantly as 65-yard touchdowns? Taught himself long snapping to get playing time? Comes home to two pet snakes?

Hollins, in his third season with the Dolphins, doesn’t dominate fantasy football discourse, but he has become a fan favorite for a variety of reasons. As the Dolphins prepare to host the Carolina Panthers at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Hollins, 28, finds himself in a familiar position: making the most of the opportunities presented to him.

From Wootton to Miami

Even though he was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round of the 2017 Draft, Hollins acknowledges the mid-round selection wasn’t because of his offensive potential but more because of his special teams prowess.

The middle child of two brothers and the son of Richard Hollins, a receiver for West Virginia in the early 1980s, Hollins was a two-sport athlete at Wootton High School, located in Montgomery County, a suburb of Maryland. Hollins played football and lacrosse and said he thinks he would be in the Premier Lacrosse League if the sport was bigger nationwide.

“If you didn’t play lacrosse, you were kind of the weirdo,” Hollins said. “It’s like down south, if you didn’t play football. That’s how it is in Maryland. You better play lacrosse.”

Wootton isn’t a school known in the DMV — a geographical area that includes Washington, D.C., and parts of Maryland and Virginia — for producing Division I athletes and Eddie Tolliver, who coached Hollins in high school, recalls only about six football players making it to college athletics during his tenure at Wootton. Hollins was the only one to make it to the NFL, Tolliver said.

Hollins didn’t receive any DI scholarships by the time he was set to graduate from Wootton, so he attended Fork Union Military Academy, a prep school in Virginia. During his one year at Fork Union, at the suggestion of his coach Hollins took up long snapping just to give himself an avenue to see the field.

“Every day when we had time, I would just set up a trash can 15 yards away and I would snap and got good at it,” Hollins said. “I ended up getting a walk-on spot at North Carolina and at the time, the coach kind of thought I came as a long snapper.”

Hollins gave himself a two-year deadline to get a scholarship due to the large out-of-state fees at North Carolina. After his freshman year, Hollins was named a special teams captain. The summer before his sophomore season, then-coach Larry Fedora rewarded Hollins with the scholarship he desired. Hollins was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference honorable mention selection as a sophomore and then led the nation in yards per reception as a junior.

As a rookie for the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles, Hollins primarily contributed on special teams and caught 16 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown. He missed the entire 2018 season because of a groin injury and then played in three games in 2019 before the Eagles released him and the Dolphins claimed him off waivers.

Last season, Hollins caught just 16 passes but one catch was one of the most notable in team history, his miracle grab from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick that set up the game-winning field against the Las Vegas Raiders and kept the Dolphins in playoff contention.

‘If you’re in the game, you’re the starter’

If you took a poll at the beginning of training camp on who would be on the receiving end of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s longest completion this season, last week’s 65-yarder against the New York Jets, there’s a good chance Hollins wouldn’t have made the ballot. He entered the summer practices more of a footnote amid a crowded receiving room that included first-round pick Jaylen Waddle, free agent acquisition Will Fuller and even Albert Wilson, another accomplished pass-catcher returning after opting out of the 2020 season.

Looking back, the two-month stretch seemed like an omen for Hollins. While many of the team’s wide receivers were sidelined by injuries, Hollins was elevated to receiving first-team reps, establishing a rapport with Tagovailoa. Injuries to Fuller, DeVante Parker and Preston Williams have once again led to an increased role for Hollins, who has already set a career high with three touchdown catches.

“I was taught early on that if you’re in the game, you’re the starter, Hollins said. “During training camp, if I’m in the game, I’m the starter. Whether I’m going against the 1’s, the 2’s, the 3’s or if I’m going on air, I’m the starter when I’m in the game. So, during training camp, I was practicing as if I was playing real games. It’s paid off when I’m getting my opportunities now but if you prepare as if you’re not going to play, you’re going to play as if you’re not prepared.”

‘A different individual’

If you hadn’t known the Dolphins were on a seven-game losing streak in the first half of the season, you wouldn’t have been able to tell from Hollins. He still cracked jokes at news conferences and kept providing reassurances the team, now on a three-game winning streak, would turn things around. Voted an offensive captain before the start of the regular season, Hollins has provided a relaxing voice during a restless period.

Hollins has played anywhere from 6 percent to 80 percent of the offensive snaps in the past month while remaining consistent on special teams. Coach Brian Flores called Hollins’ role as a gunner the toughest position in the NFL.

“Mack, in a great way, he’s a different individual,” special teams coordinator Danny Crossman said. “A lot of guys, yeah when those reps start getting high in the offensive and defensive phases, you do need to dial them back. Mack is a guy that you don’t necessarily need to do that. He’s in phenomenal shape. He takes great care of his body. Really if you try and get him out in some situations, he’s going to fight you on it. We try and be smart. We try and sub him based on exactly what’s going on but he’s one of the few guys that I’ve had that it’s not a must that you get him out and you reduce his role.”

‘You’ve got to have those kind of quirky guys’

Asked recently about his positive energy, Hollins cited a saying he found on the internet about duct tape.

“Can you fix it with duct tape, yes or no? If the answer is yes, fix it with duct tape,” he said. “If the answer is no, then you can’t fix it and so be it. That’s life. If you can fix the problem, fix it. If you can’t, then stop worrying about it. That’s just kind of how I look at life.”

A self-described “loudmouth,” Hollins joked he was happy to have been voted a captain “so now I got a little backing behind what I say.” If you can’t spot him at practice because of his voice, his Afro — he will go back and forth between that and cornrows — or green practice shirt cut into slits resembling a hula skirt are easy identifiers.

“His energy and his commitment to the team just brings everybody up because it’s infectious,” Tolliver said. “You’ve got to have those kind of quirky guys around to break the monotony up and that’s who Mack is.”

The personality that led Tolliver to call Hollins an “acquired taste” dates to his time at Wootton. As a senior, he wore a suit and brought a suitcase to school. The saying, “You dress for the job you want” was deep in Hollins’ mind and he eyed a seat in the Oval Office.

In college, he wanted to get a dog but heard horror stories from teammates whose pets would tear up the apartment while they were gone. So, of course, Hollins housed two large snakes that can grow several feet but are low-maintenance animals that can go weeks without food or care.

As boisterous as Hollins can be on the football field, he claims when he’s at home with his girlfriend and son, “I don’t talk, really,” and “my dream would be to live in the middle of the woods where nobody can reach me.”

‘Not a bad gig’

Though Hollins has once again made his mark on offense, it was a recent tackle on special teams that brought memories of the “usual Mack” to Tolliver, the one who would do anything, even take snaps at safety, to help his team win.

In the midst of another injury-ravaged year to the wide receiver room, the Dolphins will likely look to build up the position once more in the offseason. Where Hollins, an impending unrestricted free agent, fits remains to be seen. But if he finds himself back to a special-teams-exclusive role, he’d be more than content.

“Obviously I led college in deep balls or yards per catch or whatever it was. Cool,” Hollins said. “But I also led college in [special teams] tackles. I had just come off an injury in college and was still drafted above some of my teammates who were excellent in the offensive realm. Special teams has always been something that I’m totally fine with playing. Yeah, it’d be great to play offense too but if my worst thing is playing four core special teams, that’s not a bad gig.”