Cardinals' Holliman could bag interception mark
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – All it took was a simple Internet search for Gerod Holliman to find college football's single-season record for interceptions.
"I Googled it," said Holliman, the University of Louisville defensive back who has 13 interceptions this season and had three at Boston College on Saturday night.
What he found was that Al Worley, a former University of Washington defensive back in the late 1960s, owns the NCAA record for interceptions in a season. He had 14 in 1968.
Forty-six years later, the University of Louisville's Holliman has two regular-season games and a postseason bowl to tie or possibly surpass Worley's record.
"Yes, I'm very well aware of that," Holliman said. "That was one of my goals coming in, to at least tie the record, even break it."
To say Holliman's breakout redshirt sophomore season has been revelation would still be an understatement.
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Louisville's coaching staff spent much of the buildup to the 2014 season, from January to August, openly worrying about the Cardinals' safeties.
Holliman, a former four-star prospect out of Miami's Southridge High, played in 11 games in 2013, and was penciled in as a likely starter before Louisville's first season in the ACC.
But his communication skills in particular needed work, and U of L coach Bobby Petrino and his staff hunted all winter and spring for more players to add depth at safety.
Louisville found junior-college transfer James Sample and moved veteran cornerback Terell Floyd to safety. Another veteran, Jermaine Reve, returned to the lineup after missing six months because of a knee injury, and Louisville added Georgia transfer Josh Harvey-Clemons for next season.
The whole time Holliman just cruised along, studying and studying more, hoping to prove to his coaches that they needn't worry about at least one of their safety spots.
That effort's paid off.
Holliman has an interception in eight of Louisville's 10 games, and he has two or more picks in four of them. Holliman's three interceptions at BC were the second-most in a game by a U of L player, and they helped him set the new program record for picks in a season.
How's he doing it?
"He's always in position," Petrino said. "He plays the ball in the air and he makes great catches in the air. To have the type of year he's had is very special."
An Associated Press story printed in the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review in 1968 described Worley as "a man of few words," much like Holliman.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Worley came from a family of 12, and he was so quiet that he had trouble following the Washington tradition of screaming, "Husky!" after intercepting a pass.
"Since I don't have speed, I try to play back more than the average player," Worley told the AP back in 1968. "I make my move when the ball is released by the passer."
Holliman operates a similar way. Petrino and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham have raved all season about Holliman's ability to trust his game preparation and instincts and pounce on routes when the feeling is right.
He did it three different times on Saturday, with one deflection dropping in his hands on the very first play of the game and two other picks coming from perfectly timed jumps toward the ball.
Holliman made it look easy. He made it look planned. He made it look like it was part of a larger push toward an NCAA record.
Few expected him to get this far, but here he is, two interceptions away from a new NCAA record and one away from tying it.
His teammates believe anything he does these days. Anything. Even if they might wonder how he keeps ending up in the right spot, just like Worley was all those years ago.
"They like to tell jokes and say I'm paying the quarterbacks," Holliman said.
Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).