He accepted a football scholarship from Alcorn State University where he was named a starter at cornerback as a freshman, registering 5 interceptions (tied for the team lead), 32 tackles and one fumble recovery.
In his last year, his game against Jerry Rice and the Mississippi Valley State University is remembered as one of his best, when he limited the future Hall of Famer to eight receptions for 134 yards and also returned an interception for a touchdown.
In 1989, he didn't start because there were conditional draft picks attached to the Vikings traded players and the Dallas Cowboys wanted the selections instead of keeping Holt and the others.
Head coach Jimmy Johnson eventually had second thoughts on the February 1 deadline and traded three future draft choices (third-round and tenth-round in 1990 and a third-round in 1991) to the Vikings for the right to retain the original full package of draft choices, plus Holt, Jesse Solomon and David Howard.
The next year, he registered 11 starts, 30 tackles, 2 interceptions, 9 passes defensed, one safety and one blocked punt, while been a part of the Super Bowl XXVII Championship team.
[4] On April 30, 1993, after Holt questioned the number of voluntary off-season workouts, he was released by Johnson, who was looking to send the team a message.
[5] He left as the Cowboys career leader with 4 blocked punts and was the last of the five players from the Herschel Walker trade still on the team.