In fact, every team passed on the chance to draft him – in all seven rounds. Holmes was not exactly a sought-after commodity in the 1997 NFL Draft. However, the outstanding production of Williams, who was now a sophomore, obscured what Holmes had accomplished in college.Įarly Years in Baltimore Mandatory Credit: Eliot J. Priest Holmes goes off on Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game. Finishing first in the South Division of the new Big 12 Conference, Texas scored a win in the first Big 12 Championship Game over the two-time defending national champion University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, with Holmes named the game’s MVP. Still, the San Antonio native was named team captain and managed to score 13 rushing touchdowns that year. Holmes returned for his final campaign in 1996, but by now Williams was the Longhorns’ clear number one option in the backfield, and Holmes was only a third-string back. It created an opening for a freshman running back named Ricky Williams, who would instantly become a force to be reckoned with for the rest of NCAA football. The next season, however, he suffered a knee injury and missed the entire campaign as a result. #TBT 1994: Priest Holmes vs North Carolina /nPNj62eGo8 For the game, Holmes had 161 rushing yards and four touchdowns, earning him MVP honors. Leading 21-17 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Longhorns gave up consecutive touchdowns, and trailing by 10, it looked like they were on their way to defeat.īut Holmes saved the day with two touchdowns of his own, and the University of Texas won the Sun Bowl, 35-31. 19 University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The team made it all the way to the 1994 Sun Bowl, where it faced the No. Under head coach John Mackovic, who was hired the same year Holmes came on board, the Longhorns had improved from 5-5-1 the previous season to 8-4, which was tied for first place in the Southwest Conference. Carrying the ball 120 times that year in 11 contests, he rushed for 524 yards and scored five touchdowns. It was in 1994, as a junior with the Longhorns, that Holmes started to show that he was on another level. He exploded for 114 yards in a game against the University of Houston Cougars, but it didn’t seem like a sign of things to come at the time.Īs a sophomore, he again played seven games, starting just two of them, and he posted 237 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. He didn’t do too badly, putting up 191 yards in those contests on 5.6 yards per carry, although he didn’t have a single touchdown. His collegiate career started slowly, as he only appeared in the final seven games of his freshman season. Holmes decided to remain close to home for college by attending the University of Texas. While attending John Marshall High School, he started to show his potential, rushing for 2,061 yards and 26 touchdowns as a senior in the 1991 season.įor his efforts, he was named Offensive Player of the Year, and he led John Marshall all the way to the state championship game, where it would lose to Odessa Permian. Holmes idolized Tony Dorsett, the Hall of Fame running back for the Dallas Cowboys, while growing up. Working hard alongside older men started to hone the work ethic that would take him to unexpected heights in the years to come. That summer, he did work to assist his grandfather’s lawn care service, putting in 12-hour shifts six days a week. Holmes started to get a taste for the laws of success when he was 13. Morris raised Holmes with strict discipline, which may have set the stage for the latter’s success later on. When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, he volunteered for a tour of duty that lasted 12 months. Holmes’ stepfather was also a sergeant in the Army. Morris spent 20 years as an aircraft technician at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio. He was instead raised by his mother Norma and a stepfather named Herman Morris. In fact, Holmes saw him only once – at his funeral shortly after his death. Life dealt him a significant dose of adversity very early on, as he never knew his biological father, who left when he was very little. 7, 1973, and he was raised in San Antonio, Texas. Priest Holmes was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas on Oct. In fact, he had an uncanny habit of being overshadowed by teammates.Įven though he put up monster numbers, many fans have forgotten how great a back Holmes was. However, nothing about his early years suggested he would have anything close to the dominant run he had. In fact, during a three-year span, he may have been the best in the game. In the early 2000s, Priest Holmes was considered one of the best running backs in the National Football League.
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