THE SOONER SCOOTER : Holieway’s Quarterbacking Has Other Teams on the Run

Coach Chris Ferragamo of L.A. Banning High School said he had a feeling he might be dealing with a special athlete the first time he took a close look at Jamelle Holieway.

“He was running the scout team, and I told him to throw a pass,” Ferragamo said recently. “The first thing he ever said to me was, ‘Coach, do you want me to throw it over his right shoulder or his left shoulder?’ ”

Holieway was a sophomore at the time.

Three years later, Holieway, precocious as ever, is the starting quarterback for fifth-ranked Oklahoma, which will play host to second-ranked Nebraska today at Owen Field.

If the Cornhuskers (9-1) win, they will represent the Big Eight Conference in the Orange Bowl against No. 1-ranked Penn State. For the Sooners (7-1) to go to the Orange Bowl, they must beat Nebraska today and seventh-ranked Oklahoma State next Saturday at Stillwater, Okla.

Even though Holieway, 18, has started only four games, Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer said this week he believes that the freshman should be the All-Big Eight quarterback.

Holieway never expected to hear those words a year ago, when most recruiters told him he couldn’t play quarterback in college because of his size. He is 5-9 and 170 pounds.

Although he was the City 4-A Player of the Year at Banning, the only schools that recruited him as a quarterback were Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico State. He said UCLA and USC offered him scholarships but wanted to convert him to a defensive back.

Switzer had no reservations about Holieway’s ability to run the Sooners’ wishbone offense because it requires the same skills he developed while running Banning’s option offense. “This is my type of offense,” Holieway said. “It’s what I like to do.”

Not even Switzer, however, was sure when Holieway would have a chance to prove himself. When the season began, he was behind sophomore starter Troy Aikman and another freshman, Eric Mitchel.

But when Aikman was injured during a 27-14 loss to Miami in the Sooners’ fourth game, Switzer turned to Holieway instead of Mitchel.

“When I came here, everybody was saying Eric was supposed to be the best option quarterback in the country,” Holieway said. “I always thought I was.”

Switzer said he preferred Holieway because of his high school experience.

“When I watched his high school films, there might have been 15 players on the field who I knew were going to receive major college scholarships,” Switzer said. “He played against great competition in high school.”

Since Holieway became the starting quarterback, the Sooners have averaged 519 yards in total offense and more than 47 points a game. Among the nation’s leaders, they have improved from 39th to 7th in total offense and 65th to 9th in scoring. In the last four weeks, Holieway twice has been named the Big Eight’s offensive player of the week.

“This kid has exploded,” Colorado Coach Bill McCartney said. “He’s running wild.”

Switzer believed after the first four games that the Sooners were going to have to win with their defense, which leads the nation. But that is no longer a concern.

“We’re playing on offense like we do on defense,” he said. “The way Holieway is playing has made us a total football team. He’s the best running quarterback we’ve ever had. Thomas Lott and J.C. Watts both were great runners, but this kid is so quick and elusive. He’s a knuckleball runner. He jumps around and reverses field and is hard to get ahold of.”

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said: “Lots of teams have defensed Oklahoma fairly well in that they’ve had people where they needed to be. They just missed tackles. They’ve had people to stop Holieway, but he made them miss or broke tackles, and he’s off and runs 30 or 40 yards.”

There was doubt about Holieway’s passing ability, but he has been better than expected. Against Missouri two weeks ago, he completed 8 of 17 passes for 168 yards. He also ran 22 times for 156 yards, setting a school record for total offense of 324 yards.

“Other coaches told me they didn’t recruit me as a quarterback because I was too short to throw the ball,” he said. “But I hope to prove them wrong because we’re throwing the ball here.”

Oklahoma’s total offense record previously was held by Jack Mildren, until now considered the best quarterback ever to run the wishbone. He set his record of 323 yards in 1971.

Holieway said he never had heard of Mildren.

“I’m sure he hadn’t,” Switzer said. “Jack played when Jamelle was 3 or 4 years old, a kid from California.

“Bud Wilkinson was here doing the color on a television broadcast of one of our games several years ago, and I had a bunch of recruits in. I introduced them to Bud after the game, and when he walked away, a couple of them wanted to know who he was. These were kids from Oklahoma. We take a lot for granted. But age gets all of us.”