At 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds, Kansas University defensive end Ervin Holloman should have no trouble lifting the rear end of a used yellow Topaz automobile.
Even easier to carry, though, is the big yellow topaz stone adorning the ring on Holloman’s left hand.
A class ring? A bowl ring?
Nope, it’s a ring Garden City Community College awards to its football players who earn NJCAA All-American honors.
Why yellow topaz?
“They give you your birthstone,” Holloman said. “That’s how they do it. And I was born in November.”
Holloman, it goes without saying, would love to have a bowl ring for his other hand, but the Jayhawks are a long way from earning a postseason trip after losing to Southern Methodist in their opener.
“Everybody is still talking about the SMU game,” Holloman said. “They say we should be 3-0. But it’s over. It doesn’t matter now.”
Holloman and his teammates realize they’re going to have to surprise a favored foe in order to make up for the SMU defeat, and now is as good a time as any. Oklahoma is favored by more than three touchdowns in Saturday’s 2:08 p.m. game in Norman, Okla.
Kansas won’t stun the Sooners, however, unless the Jayhawks can put pressure on quarterback Josh Heupel, and that won’t be easy. Oklahoma, despite being a passing team, surrendered fewer sacks than any Big 12 team last season.
“I didn’t know that,” Holloman said. “We’ve got to try to change that. I hope we can get pressure up front.”
Holloman, like his brother Cliff now at Kansas State before him, went from Wichita Northwest High to Garden City Community College to beef up his academics.
Holloman found out soon enough where the beef was, too at the IBP processing plant, Garden City’s largest employer.
“The first thing I noticed was that smell,” he said, smiling. “It hits you at least once a week. It’s not there all the time, but when it comes, it comes.”
So when Holloman had the opportunity to go when he could go, he traveled clear across state to Kansas University where, he figured, he would have more of an opportunity to play than he would have had at Virginia Tech.
Kansas State wasn’t in the picture for two reasons too many veteran defensive linemen on the Wildcats’ roster, including his brother, and, uh
“I like Lawrence better than Manhattan. It reminded me of Garden City,” he said.
Comments like that will almost certainly wind up on Kansas State’s bulletin board with the Jayhawks scheduled to entertain the Wildcats a week from Saturday, but how many corn shucks can you stuff into a scarecrow anyway?
Every time Holloman drives to Manhattan to visit his brother, like he did on Monday when the Jayhawks had a day off, he hears the same tune from his brother and a couple of other former GCCC teammates who also transferred to K-State.
“They told me they were going to make me eat some turf,” Holloman said, adding with a grin: “I think some people are unhappy I didn’t go there.”
Though Holloman realizes the Jayhawks must focus on OU, he knows the Kansas State game is on the horizon.
“In the back of my mind,” he said, “I know that game is next week.”
