Call Trindon Holliday the little engine that could.
It may be one of the oldest cliches in the book, but it best describes the former LSU football and track and field star.
Standing at barely 5 feet 5 inches tall and 165 pounds, Holliday has had the odds stacked against him in his young but promising football career.
His chance to carry out a dream begins Thursday, but he will likely have to wait until the final rounds of the NFL draft Saturday to hear his name called.  
Local NFL draft analyst Mike Detillier projects Holliday as a possible sixth- or early seventh-round draft pick, a common place for late-round specialists such as Holliday.
Holliday was a jack-of-all-trades player during his career as a Tiger. He amassed 772 yards on the ground and four touchdowns, while averaging nearly 25 yards on kickoff returns and 15 yards on punt returns with four total return touchdowns.
“He’s really a scary guy out on that football field when he has the ball in his hands, and he hits that crease,” Detillier said. “He’s got that ability to make things happen.”
Along with Kansas State’s Brandon Banks, Holliday is regarded as one of the top return specialists of the 2010 draft class, according to Detillier.
Holliday would have been out of luck five or six years ago before general managers and scouts started to put a premium on special teams, beginning with the emergence of Chicago Bears return specialist and wide receiver Devin Hester. Hester’s success allowed players such as the Cleveland Browns’ Joshua Cribbs, who went undrafted in 2005, and the Houston Texans’ Jacoby Jones to make household names for themselves in the return department.
Now it’s Holliday’s turn.
“His main asset is he can make an impact in the NFL very quickly as a return man,” Detillier said. “Bottom line, that’s going to be his big ticket early on in this league is the ability to return punts and kicks.”
Some may mistake Holliday for the equipment manager on the field, but size has become irrelevant in the NFL with more teams turning toward speed.
“As coaches, we get caught up with height and weight and everything else, and we forget if someone is a football player or not,” said David Masterson, Holliday’s coach at Northeast High in Zachary.
He was a standout running back in high school, totaling more than 2,200 yards his senior season with 34 touchdowns, but was arguably the most unsought-after and underrated recruit in Louisiana.
Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State and Grambling State said he was too small, and Louisiana-Lafayette pulled his scholarship after concluding he didn’t fit the prototypical build.  Former LSU coach Nick Saban and former offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher were two of the few coaches who initially gave Holliday a chance. But it took some convincing even for LSU coach Les Miles to honor Saban’s offer when the coach bolted to the NFL.
Holliday was arguably one of the fastest players in college football during his career despite his height.  
He created headlines when he blazed the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium at the NFL Combine February, running an unofficial 4.22 40-yard dash, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The NFL officially recognized it as a 4.34.
Holliday has impressive speed and deceptive strength. Masterson once clocked him at a 4.21 in the 40 with track shoes.
Holliday was an eight-time All-American at LSU in track and field and is the reigning NCAA champion in the 100-meter dash, but Masterson explained that Holliday is a football player first.
“He is a football player that runs track in the offseason … and what makes him dangerous is not the speed,” Masterson said. “It’s the ability to stop and cut on a dime and get back to full speed in a step and a half.”
Holliday may initially be returning kicks in the NFL, but he still wants to prove he can make it as a receiver at the next level.
He only caught seven passes during his career at LSU, but he impressed scouts and coaches at LSU’s Pro Day with his bursts of acceleration after the catch.
“I did a lot more to convince those guys that I’m not only a specialist, but I can play a little slot receiver,” Holliday said after his Pro Day workout.
—————
Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected]