It has been quite a journey for Hollin Pierce as he entered Rutgers with little football experience to become one of its stalwarts on the offensive line.
Coming out of Fork Union Military Academy (VA.), Pierce began his career as a walk-on for the Scarlet Knights and put in a lot of work with strength and conditioning coach Jay Butler to get down to a comfortable playing weight.
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As he described, when he first got to Fork Union he was 455 pounds before dropping to 421 when he left. Today, Pierce stands at 6-foot-8, 344 pounds, and is a far cry from the kid who did not play until his senior year of high school.
"I think one of the biggest things I learned over my journey is working hard and nothing comes easy," Pierce said. "Talent only takes you so far and a big majority of that is hard work and what you put in. I really learned just how far hard work has taken me to where I am today."
Pierce also talked about how each day brings new lessons and challenges.
"You learn something new every day on the field," he said. "There's never a time where I think I learned the max of what I can learn, you learn something new each and every single day."
Pierce enters his senior year coming off a season where he started all 13 games at left tackle and was voted an All-Big Ten honorable mention by the coaches and media. He was also part of a unit that allowed the fewest sacks per game in the conference (1.08) and ranked fifth in rushing (168.7).
"Training camp has been great; it's just a lot of hard work, day in and day out," Pierce said. "Coach [Schiano] is always pushing us for more so I would say the standard has always been the standard, we're just pushing each other and everything like that."
Pierce also explained how facing defensive end Aaron Lewis day after day has not only prepared him for this season, but trained him to become the lineman he is today as well.
"I've been going up against Aaron since I walked on here and he's taught me a lot of things and I'm sure I taught him things about his game," he said. "It's such a blessing to have somebody like that to play with for so many years because he's made me so much better and I made him so much better. Day in and day out when we go up against each other in pass rush or anything, we always learn something new."
In addition, the Trenton native was rated as the sixth-best tackle in the Big Ten by Pro Football Focus and named preseason All-Big Ten by Athlon Sports (second team) and Phil Steele (third team).
Along with his own personal accolades, Pierce helped running back Kyle Monangai have a breakthrough campaign as he led the Big Ten with 1,262 rushing yards and had the first 1,000-yard season for the Scarlet Knights since 2012. It also tied for the fourth-highest mark in program history.
"Kyle is amazing, he runs really hard and motivates me to go hard," Pierce said. "He always asks me for more each and every day and for me to keep going hard. He's just a true leader and an awesome guy to play with."
He also discussed how Monangai's leadership spreads amongst the running backs.
"Kyle's a leader in that running back room so those guys go hard," Pierce said. "They follow behind him and you see it on the field every day, they just push themselves."
Despite Rutgers returning many players from last season, it enters the season with a new quarterback as Minnesota transfer Athan Kaliakmanis takes over for Gavin Wimsatt who transferred to Kentucky.
Pierce described what he had seen from his new signal caller and how the two compare.
"He's amazing, very talented, and just a good guy overall, I love talking with him and he works very hard," Pierce said regarding Kaliakmanis. "They're both really good guys and I love them both. They both work very hard."
Rutgers will have six captains this season as Kaliakmanis, Robert Longerbeam, Joe Lusardi, Monangai, Tyreem Powell, and Mohamed Toure all got the nod.
"I look at them as all leaders, I see it on the field and it's a huge achievement for them all, I'm just happy for them," Pierce said. "We're going to every game just ready to go and not taking anybody lightly. Everybody's a great opponent and every game is going to be hard."
Pierce is one of several Scarlet Knights selected to the Shrine Bowl 1000.
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