Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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NORMAN — Spencer Tillman remembers Jamelle Holieway’s attitude when the 1985 Sooners were forced to turn to their backup quarterback.
Two more dissimilar people God never made, than Jamelle Holieway and Troy Aikman. Short and tall. Black and white. Los Angeles and Henryetta. Fur coat and button down. Cocky and John Wayne. Optioneer and pocket passer.
But both Aikman and Holieway were quarterback talents who became iconic. Aikman is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a three-time Super Bowl winner. Holieway quarterbacked those ‘85 Sooners to Barry Switzer’s third national championship.
And neither Aikman nor Holieway lacked for confidence. Aikman, you know well from all those autumn Sundays with the sun peering through Texas Stadium, and his confidence still shines through on Monday Night Football broadcasts. Holieway, maybe you’ve forgotten the details, since he last played football in 1988 and last played whole in 1987, before a major knee injury robbed him of the quickness that made him a wishbone whisperer.
Just know this. When Aikman suffered a broken ankle in the second quarter against Miami on Oct. 19, 1985, two weeks shy of 40 years ago, Holieway entered the game as a true freshman and was not scared.
“I remember Jamelle coming in and saying, ‘Let’s roll. Man, let’s just do it,’” said Tillman, a fourth-year halfback on that 1985 squad.
Those third-ranked Sooners didn’t win the game — Jimmy Johnson’s Hurricanes led 14-7 at the injury, then won 27-14 — but OU ran the table afterwards. With a quarterback who was confident.
Forty years later, another promising OU squad has lost its quarterback. John Mateer is out with a thumb injury that required surgery; Michael Hawkins is in, Saturday against hapless Kent State but apparently next Saturday against Texas and perhaps beyond, with South Carolina, Ole Miss and Tennessee following Red River.
The plots are not similar. Mateer played through the thumb injury against Auburn. Hawkins has had almost two weeks to prepare, and he’s not a true freshman anyway, having made four starts last season.
The personalities are reversed. Mateer is outgoing, a loquacious leader. Hawkins rides the Marlboro horse; speaks when spoken to, then dispenses words as if they’re war-time rations.
But OU hopes are high that Hawkins can be the ace reliever that Holieway was so many years ago.
Those ‘85 Sooners represented hope for greatness.
The previous four OU teams had gone a combined 32-14-2, with a solitary Big Eight championship, and while that doesn’t sound too severe, remember that Switzer’s first eight teams went a combined 83-9-2.
These ‘25 Sooners aren’t chasing such a standard, but Brent Venables entered this season with a 22-17 record at OU, and the early returns this season were so promising, fans allowed themselves to dream. The No. 5 in The Associated Press poll validates those hopes.
Then came news of Mateer’s impending thumb surgery. And OU suddenly needs Hawkins to be a reasonable facsimile of Mateer’s success. Not Saturday. Not against Kent State. But after the Golden Flashes board the charter back to suburban Cleveland, the Sooners’ gimmes are gone.
Truth is, OU’s running game was so porous, no one knew if even Mateer could successfully navigate the SEC rapids. But now that’s Hawkins’ job, until further notice.
Witnesses say Hawkins has embraced the role of team leader. Maybe not with Holieway’s “let’s roll” bravado, but with his own self-assurance.
“He’s stepped into this role that’s happened in the last two weeks and he’s done a great job of it, of understanding how he needs to be at practice, understanding the command he has to have … he’s done a really great job of going in there,” said offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle. “I think being able to see John really do that this first month-month and a half or so and piggyback off a lot of the things that he does, I think it’s been huge for him.
“And he’s been so good out there at practice. You can feel the command, you can hear the command, you can see the presence.”
Talk is cheap. But Hawkins, like Holieway, was thrust into a sudden, difficult situation last season. Hawkins didn’t lead the Sooners to great success, but he has been sharpened by the experience.
“I feel like it’s a great situation to be in right now,” Hawkins said. “Being in the fire last year helped me a lot just with my process and knowing the game and being in there and being able to command a huddle.”
Hawkins has lived a lot of football in the last 12 months. Thrust into a Tennessee showdown when Jackson Arnold melted down. Won his first start, at Auburn, a place that even gave Nick Saban the willies. Started and finished an OU-Texas game. Got pulled himself against South Carolina, in a similar vein to Arnold. Then quarterbacked a bowl loss to Navy, with half his team gone.
That experience will change a person, one way or the other. OU guard Febechi Nwaiwu this week was asked about Hawkins’ growth. His response? Confidence.
“He’s a lot more confident out there,” Nwaiwu said. “I think all aspects of Mike’s game have improved, especially with this new offense. I think he’s really gonna excel. Feels good because it feels like we have two quarterbacks we can win with.”
Forty years ago, the Sooners didn’t have time to feel confident about Holieway and probably wouldn’t have anyway.
“Jamelle was the X factor for such a young kid,” said 1985 nose guard Tony Casillas. “He was too young to know better. We just didn’t expect Jamel to grasp that offense the way he did. That kid was a true freshman.”
Hawkins is an X factor, too. Primarily because he’s not a transfer. College football in general and OU in particular has become so dependent on transfer quarterbacks, it’s hard to remember that growing pains are part of the deal.
Spencer Rattler had them, played well, then lost his job because Lincoln Riley recruited a superstar. Off to South Carolina went Rattler. Caleb Williams, said superstar, didn’t stick around long enough for us to analyze his growing pains.
Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Dillon Gabriel, all took over as newcomers and were varying degrees of great and good.
Then last year, it was back to homegrown, with Arnold, and he was a disaster.
Now Hawkins is the man, with his second chance to take command in just 13 months. Will he be the next Jamelle Holieway (27-1 as the starter, before the knee injury in Bedlam 1987)? Or will Hawkins be the next Eric Moore, who started across four OU seasons but just 18 times combined, with a 6-11-1 record?
“I try to tell the people now, just be ready, because you don’t know when your number’s going to be called,” Holieway said. “The best is you being ready. When it is called, you gotta get out there.”
Hawkins will be ready Saturday. Everyone’s ready for Kent State. But if Hawkins is ready for Texas, his name will be remembered even 40 years from now.
berry.tramel@tulsaworld.com
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Berry Tramel
Tulsa World Sports Columnist
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