He's a social science/history major at USC. His father, Mike, lettered at defensive end at Michigan in 1974 and 1975. His workout partner is NFL Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson (he says Dickerson is his sports hero and says his favorite sports moment was watching Dickerson get enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame). He has volunteered with the Special Olympics.

He was selected as a 1999 Super Prep All-American, Prep Star All-American, USA Today All-USA honorable mention, The Sporting News Top 101, Prep Star Top 100 Dream Team, Tom Lemming Top 100, Prep Star Western Super 30, Super Prep All-Farwest, Tom Lemming All-West, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West second team, Orange County Register Fab 15 first team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100 and Las Vegas Sun Super 11 first team pick despite not playing football in 1999 at Harvard-Westlake High in North Hollywood (Calif.). He was not eligible to compete in athletics in 1999 because he had to repeat his freshman year of high school at La Jolla (Calif.) High after missing 13 weeks of school while suffering complications following sinus surgery.

As a 1998 junior tight end and inside linebacker at Harvard-Westlake, he was a Student Sports Junior All-American, All-CIF Division VII first team, Los Angeles Daily News All-Valley first team and All-League MVP. He caught 46 passes for 990 yards (21.5 avg) and 8 TDs (including a 90-yarder), ran for 200 yards on 28 carries (7.1 avg) with 4 TDs and hit 6-of-8 passes (75.0%) with 4 TDs on offense and made 130 tackles, 23 tackles for losses, 9 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries and an interception (returned for a 65-yard TD) on defense.

As a 1997 sophomore at Harvard-Westlake, he made the Cal-Hi Sports All-State Sophomore first team as he had 38 receptions for 739 yards (19.4 avg).

He also played basketball and was on the track team at Harvard-Westlake. He scored over 1,300 points on the SAT exam and 3 times placed first on a national Latin exam while at Harvard-Westlake, one of the nation's top prep schools.

Holmes saw significant action as a backup tight end to Antoine Harris as a freshman in 2000, his first year at USC. Overall, he caught 7 passes for 53 yards (7.6 avg.), plus returned a kickoff for 6 yards as an up-man (against Washington State) and threw an incomplete pass on a trick play at UCLA. His 7 receptions came in 7 different games: Penn State (1 yard), San Jose State (15 yards), Arizona (6 yards), California (13 yards), Arizona State (5 yards), Washington State (6 yards) and Notre Dame (7 yards). He made the 2000 The Sporting News Freshman All-American second team.

Holmes saw lots of action as just a sophomore in 2001 as the backup tight end behind Kori Dickerson. Overall in 2001 while appearing in all 12 games, he had 22 receptions for 166 yards (7.5 avg.) with 2 TDs.

He had 3 catches against UCLA (37 yards), Oregon State (17 yards, including a difficult 9-yarder on third-and-8 from the Beaver 12-yard line to set up USC's winning TD in overtime), San Jose State (15 yards) and Arizona (14 yards), and 2 grabs versus Washington (24 yards), Utah (16 yards), Kansas State (13 yards) and Arizona State (11 yards). He caught his first career TD (a 4-yarder) against Arizona State and added a 1-yard TD at Arizona.

Holmes started at tight end and also played on special teams as a junior in 2002. Overall in 2002 while appearing in all 13 games, he had 29 receptions for 320 yards (11.0 avg.) with 2 TDs, plus he made 5 tackles. His 29 catches in 2002 were the most by a USC tight end since Brad Banta had 31 in 1993. He had a career-high 6 catches for 50 yards (with a 2-yard TD) against Arizona State. He also caught 5 passes for a career-best 65 yards against California, 4 passes for 45 yards against Oregon State and 3 receptions against Washington State (19 yards, Stanford (57 yards, including a 22-yard TD), Notre Dame (44 yards) and Iowa in the Orange Bowl (27 yards).

Holmes was set to return as the starting tight end as a senior in 2003, but a back sprain suffered in the 2003 Orange Bowl sidelined him for the last half of 2003 spring practice and for the entire 2003 season. He began limited practice late in the 2003 season.

The sure-handed Holmes, who missed the 2003 season with a back injury after starting at tight end in 2002, likely will start there as a senior in 2004.

He is currently a National Football League tight end for the Miami Dolphins.