By Lucy Roberts
Medill Reports

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When New England Patriots wide receiver Mack Hollins was drafted from North Carolina in 2017, one of his goals was to own a world-renowned aquarium. Nine years later, he doesn’t quite have the aquarium, but is an NFL veteran playing in perhaps the biggest fishbowl in the world with a quirky personality that sparks interest nationwide. 

To those who have known him since his Tar Heel days, what some find to be odd habits — such as his aversion to shoes and drinking water — reflects a deeper mindset that has propelled him to his current success.

“What you see from Mack nowadays is exactly what he was then,” said Larry Fedora, Hollins’ former coach at North Carolina. 

Hollins’ commitment to his team is not so different from that to his famously bare feet. Or his vegetable-less diet of the past four or five years. Or his dedication to sharing his “Mack Hacks” on social media, which range from tutorials on folding pants to ways to remove fingerprints from stainless steel.

“Once Mack believed in something, he would research it, and once he believed in it, he would go all out on it,” Fedora said.

“People are like, ‘Oh, you’re such a hippie,’” Hollins said. “I feel like the body is developed to connect to a lot of things.”

“I feel more connected to the Earth and I feel like my body is less stressed out.” 

What may seem like oddities reveal a thoughtfulness in Hollins that impacts those around him, his teammates say, an infectious passion that spreads throughout any locker room he’s part of.

“He’s probably No.1 on the unique list,” Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs said. “But he’s actually taught me a lot — alternative medicines, things that he does, things that he eats, how he moves on the daily.”

From Chapel Hill to New England, Hollins has remained singular. 

Hollins was not highly recruited and arrived at North Carolina as a walk-on in 2012, but immediately started to differentiate himself from others on the team, regardless of if they were on scholarship or not.

“His work ethic, his tenacity, his determination were just out the roof,” Fedora said. “It made him stand apart from everyone.”

According to Fedora, Hollins stayed late after practice, running routes nonstop and catching ball after ball from the quarterback when he was available or the JUGS machine when he was not. Hollins led by example, and his peers selected him as a special teams captain in his freshman year — and for the three years after.

“Coach Fedora was great for my development as a player in general,” Hollins said. “One of his rules was that you had to start on special teams if you wanted to start on the offense or defense.”

Hollins’ contributions on offense and special teams have led to his longevity in the league.

“One of the biggest things I learned from Mack was just how important the special teams phase of the game was,” said Austin Proehl, Hollins’ former college teammate. “He showed all of us that this is what was most important to him, and he wasn’t trying to be the splash play playmaker.” 

Hollins has been described as a journeyman; he played for five teams before signing a two-year contract with the Patriots in March 2025. His self-confidence has helped him stay in the league despite the lack of a long-term home, but he credits North Carolina with helping to instill the value of hard work.

“All the same principles or tenets that gave me success then are what give me success now, and that’s pushing through adversity, working hard and putting in the work even when you don’t know when the result is coming,” Hollins said.

Fedora and Proehl both described Hollins the Tar Heel as someone willing to do the less glamorous work in the earliest parts of his college career. Today, he’s described the same way.

“He works extremely hard, he keeps the team first, and he does a lot of the dirty work that people don’t see,” Diggs said. “He can make plays at a high level.”

“He attacks each and every day differently than most people, and that’s just kind of who he is and how he’s always been,” Proehl said. “Ultimately, it’s led to his success.”

Hollins’ uniqueness makes him unpredictable, yet he is simultaneously consistent. He still dreams of having an aquarium — one big enough to swim in, he says. He still has the pet snakes he kept in his Chapel Hill apartment. And as he approaches Super Bowl LX, he attributes his success so far to an enduring work ethic.

“Hard work always pays off,” Hollins said. “That’s what I did in college and it worked out then, it has worked out now, and it’ll continue to work.”

Lucy Roberts is a sports media specialization graduate student at Medill.