A former all-state high school football player at Jefferson High School passed away early Thursday in a devastating crash in Lutz.

  • Max Holloway standout at Jefferson High School, Boston College
  • Holloway played for the Tampa Bay Storm in 2013
  • Holloway planned to return to teaching role at Jefferson

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office says 26-year-old Max Holloway failed to negotiate a curve, hit a utility pole, and went into a home. It was only a few houses from his own. Investigators say he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Holloway was well known in the Bay area. An all-state football player at Jefferson High School, he also excelled academically on his way to playing at the next level at Boston College.

“He was a member of the National Honor Society,” said Holloway's former position coach, Danny Lea. “Max graduated early in December his senior year, because he wanted to start college football.”

“Max was the greatest of his kind and maybe the last of his kind," said Lea, who kept in touch with Holloway after graduation. "A real football player and a great student athlete.”

Holloway came from football stock. Both his father, Brian, and his brother, David, played in the NFL. Though Max went undrafted after leaving Boston College for the NFL Draft in 2012, he did go on to a professional career that included a stint with the Arena Football League's Tampa Bay Storm.

Both Boston College and the Tampa Bay Storm issued condolences on Holloway's passing on social media:




But Holloway's friend Zack Grossi, an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, insisted Max was more than just football.

“My last two years of high school I spent pretty much every day with [Holloway]," said Grossi. "He was just a great guy, always had a good attitude."

“I didn’t know anyone that didn’t like him," said Lea. "Except for maybe the people who played against him, and by the end of the game I’m sure they had respect, if not admiration."

Lea added that Holloway planned on coming back to Jefferson High School, a thought that left the coach choked up.

“He was about to come back to Jefferson High School where he had coached and taught PE and health a couple years ago," said Lea. "That’s about the only thing he never finished, because one thing about Max was he was a finisher."