Alec Holler is living his dream.
The tight end's journey to UCF began in some respects as a young fan sitting in the stands and cheering on his favorite team.
A local standout at Trinity Prep, Holler would enroll as a walk-on and dealt with early adversity, tearing an ACL not long into his career. He persevered the first few years, eventually earning a scholarship shortly after Gus Malzahn's arrival and developing into one of the offense's key players.
"The dream is coming true," Holler said this week. "They talk about Orlando and dreams coming true at Disney World. At UCF, dreams come true. I think that as a player when you come here, you're put on a big stage. You have a lot of opportunity to make big plays and make your dreams come true in terms of your college football career and even beyond that. You've seen a lot of guys that go on to the NFL."
As UCF has made their run to the American Athletic Conference Championship, Holler's play on the field has made all the difference.
He juked defenders and sacrificed his body to earn a game-clinching first down in the win at Memphis. Last week at South Florida, Holler had the concentration to reel in the game-winning touchdown catch with one hand all the while making sure his toe scraped the pylon. It's spurring debates about whether it's the greatest catch in UCF history. Some are calling the play, 'Holy Holler.'
He reflected on that fantastic catch.
"At the time, I guess it hadn't set in, the gravity of what happened, making the big catch to win," Holler said. "It honestly didn't feel as hard at the time because I feel Mikey's ball was so good that it kind of stuck in my hand when I caught it and got the foot in. It was an amazing play. I'm so glad that I made it."
Holler said his phone was "blowing up" after the game.
"I was getting texts from people I haven't heard from in a while," Holler said. "Just a lot of support. I really appreciate it, all the messages. Knight Nation and all the energy for our whole team after winning that game."
Holler wanted to bring attention though to that entire final drive. He had the glory of the touchdown catch, but there were several critical plays during the 82-yard drive. A huge one was Mikey Keene's scramble and then finding Javon Baker 41 yards down the field.
"Something that's not getting enough credit is the whole drive," Holler said. "Javon's catch was phenomenal. That should have been a SportsCenter Top 10 play in itself. Without that play and the whole offense coming together on that final drive, the play doesn't even happen."
Holler's first season at UCF was in 2018, which was the last time the Knights won a conference championship.
"I was a scout guy and we went on to play in the Fiesta Bowl against LSU," Holler said. "Now as an older guy and a guy that's contributing on the field, I think our whole team wants to leave a stamp on our legacy in UCF history. This is a moment that can seize and really put our stamp on it."
In fact, moments after the thrilling win in Tampa, offensive lineman Sam Jackson spoke to the team to make sure their focus is where it should be.
"Right after the win, we're holding up the War on I-4 trophy and five minutes later Sam brings us up," Holler said. He said guys, the mission is not done yet. We've got a championship next week. We're playing Tulane, a great team. It's all hands on deck. It's time to win a championship right here and put a stamp on all our legacies at UCF."
