Holman finding his voice as UCF’s starting quarterback
Justin Holman, the once stoic-faced UCF quarterback, playfully belted out a song as he jogged back to the locker room after a football workout last week.
The song was almost as unrecognizable as the singer, who smiled and laughed at his own out-of-tune vocal performance.
“He’s outgoing and has a funny side to him,” UCF offensive lineman Chavis Dickey said of Holman. “[You’ve] just got to catch it sometimes, but he’s humorous, though.”
The Knights lost a host of experienced players last season, but they are finding a stronger voice from Holman as he enters his second season leading the offense.
It was just one year ago when Blake Bortles’ former backup found himself in a heated quarterback competition with Pete DiNovo and Nick Patti for the starting job. DiNovo, now a receiver, was ultimately named the starter.
But Holman has long left those questions
about his accuracy, touch and fieldmanship in Ireland, where he cemented himself as UCF’s leader by putting on a second-half passing clinic against Penn State.
With his role firmly set, Holman entered the spring with a sharper focus on his leadership style.
“Sometimes I was a little shut off last season, but now I’m starting to open up and seeing what being a true leader is, and it helps me mentally prepare for the game,” said Holman, a rising junior.
The senior leadership last season from UCF’s receivers corps, including then-captain Josh Reese, and veteran lineman Torrian Wilson gave Holman time to grow into his role as he juggled the first-year responsibilities of executing the playbook behind a young and inexperienced line.
Former running-backs coach Danny Barrett, a former CFL quarterback himself, would often pull young Holman to the side to encourage him to relax his demeanor.
“I think it’s more of his personality than anything else. He’s a competitor, first of all, and he’s always walking around with his game face on. And that’s what I told him and recognized throughout last year and since he’s been here,” said Barrett, who now coaches the quarterbacks. “As a quarterback, you have to relax and loosen up around everybody. We know you’re a competitor, and you’ve shown that. Now you have to be able to open up and show that vibrant side to you, which he does have. And I think he’s starting to work on that. Throughout the week, you can see it.”
Holman’s internal confidence is producing some external results on the field, particularly with junior receiver Taylor Oldham and younger receivers Jordan Akins, Tre’Quan Smith and Chris Davis Jr.
Akins knew the chemistry was starting to click when the two connected on their first seam route this spring.
“We usually don’t hit the seam routes, and he was just like confident when he [saw] me come off the line, and I knew right then the ball was coming,” Akins said. “And he just released it, and I went and got it. So I felt like he’s a lot more calm in the pocket, and he’s reading more of the field than just one side.”
Much like the 2013 team, UCF will count on its offense to set the tone as the revamped secondary develops.
And Holman plans to be ready with a smile on his face.
“I feel like he’s just getting real comfortable within himself and getting more vocal and leading by example,” UCF offensive lineman Tarik Cook said. “Both go hand in hand, and I feel like he’s doing a good job with that.”