Hillsdale wide receiver Andre Holmes has a private workout scheduled with the Patriots on Thursday, according to the Detroit Free Press. Holmes, who will reportedly work out for New England at Hillsdale, measured at 6-foot-4, 208 pounds at Michigan State Pro Day on Wednesday. He ran two 40s in roughly 4.5, with one scout clocking him at 4.45. (According to reports, Patriots area scout DuJuan Daniels was on hand to see Holmes’ workout.)

Holmes is a small-school star who had the most productive season of any wide receiver in the 119-year history of Hillsdale College football, setting single-season school records for receptions (104), and receiving yards (1,368) and catching caught 11 touchdown passes. At the combine, he showed great speed and agility, finishing with a 6.69 in the 3-cone drill, a stat that should get the attention of the Patriots for reasons we outlined here.

Holmes sees himself as a big-play threat, which should also intrigue a team that struggled to stretch the field in the wake of the October trade of Randy Moss to the Vikings.

“I feel like I can be a big-play type receiver. I’ve got the speed to do that, and also a possession receiver,” he said. “I have the tools to be able to be successful.

“If there’s one thing — and I’ve said this many times in different interviews with different teams — I feel like I need to work on my hands. In practice, what I would do, I wouldn’t wear gloves in practice at all and then once I’d get to the game I would have my gloves and I wouldn’t drop any passe. I had everything,” he added. “Sometimes you just get lackadaisical during practice and I just want to crisp up, get more crisp on that, because it’s going to be important in training camp that I’m making every play that I can. That’s going to be my game day until I can step foot on the field.”

Here’s video of him running his 40 last month at the combine: