Dean of the defense: Holliday welcomes his role as leader and mentor Vonnie Holliday was in the most somber of places, in the most solemn of moods, when he became the unwitting butt of a joke. The Dolphins defensive end had traveled to Atlanta to attend a relative's burial during the off-season, and he was catching up with family members when talk turned to football. Holliday asked his stepbrother how his middle school football team was doing and the boy shrugged. "We're 0-3 right now," he replied, "but you guys were 1-15."