Tim left him a message - quiet and subdued - telling his younger brother to "do what he needed to do" to be successful, Eugene said.

"Then he just hung up," the younger Holloman said. "My brother had the same opportunities. He just chose the wrong path and it's something that I don't want to do."

Eugene Holloman isn't perfect. He'd be the first to tell you that. But he sure is working on it. Although he was a star running back coming out Bayside High School in the vaunted Tidewater-area Beach District, few colleges showed interest in him. Not because of his skills but because of his grades.

"I wasn't focused at all," Holloman said. "I think girls, then football, then school -

those were my priorities."

So Holloman, who had caught JMU's attention at a scouting combine before the coaches saw his academic woes, went to Kansas, to Highland Community College. He was miserable there. There was no cell phone service, he said, the food was bad.

In his two years, he said, neither his father nor mother made it out to see him play because of their work schedules. His aunt came once and joked she'd never come back.

"It was hard, the hardest thing I ever did in my life," Holloman said.

So Holloman - the once undisciplined student - set out to graduate early. He went to summer school and finished one semester ahead of schedule in strong academic standing.

"He was beating down the door wanting to come home," JMU coach Mickey Matthews said.

Then-JMU assistant Curt Newsome, the Dukes' Tidewater recruiting guru, had kept tabs on Holloman and brought him to Madison. Holloman, too, had thought about JMU while he toiled in Kansas.

"When they went to the national championship and won, I was crushed," Holloman said. "I was crushed. When I came here and saw their rings, and I don't have one, that's what I want. That's my goal."

The plan was for Holloman - who has two years of eligibility and could have redshirted this year - to be the Dukes' tailback in 2007. With two star seniors at the position this year, JMU coach Mickey Matthews wanted to redshirt the 5-foot-11, 170-pounder, hoping he'd bulk up with a year in the team's strength and conditioning program.

With his father in attendance, he sat out the Dukes' season-opening win over Bloomsburg. But when Alvin Banks had to miss Saturday's game at Appalachian State with hamstring spasms, Holloman went from the team's back of the future to its back of now.

Against the Mountaineers, Holloman had 63 rushing yards, added 63 receiving yards on five catches, and blocked effectively enough that he moved ahead of senior Maurice Fenner - a high school teammate of his at Bayside - as the team's No. 1 back heading into this week's bye.

"Eugene played the best of any of the backs Saturday," Matthews said. "He's really pressing for the starting job."

In fact, Matthews said, he was going to start Holloman - who has two other brothers and a sister - Saturday but was afraid nerves might get the best of him.

Among the players Holloman has moved ahead of on the depth chart is junior Antoinne Bolton. Bolton played for Ocean Lakes against Bayside in high school. Last season, the undersized Bolton contributed. This year, the 5-7, 160-pounder has been the odd man out.

"It's somewhat discouraging," Bolton said. "But the coaches made a decision to do what's best for the team. Coach Matthews was man-to-man with me and let me know the decision. ... Coaches coach, players play. I'm not getting paid to coach, I'm here to play."

It was last week that Matthews called Bolton into his office to tell him Holloman - not him - would play at Appalachian.

"It's difficult for Antoinne," Matthews said Tuesday evening, sitting in that same office. "I always tell the players they might not agree with what they hear in my office, but they're always going to hear it from me, one-on-one. It's all going to be man-to-man. They don't have to worry about reading it in the newspaper or hearing it from another player."

And so, while Bolton works with the backups, Holloman will see more time with the first team this week in practice and appears the likely starter when JMU resumes play at home against Northeastern on Sept. 23. Banks is still day-to-day and might not play that game and Fenner has been slowed by a hamstring strain of his own.

Holloman is looking forward to playing in front of his mother, father and aunt this year. And his father, Tim Holloman Sr. - who had seen all of his son's games since he was 5 years old until he went to Kansas - said he'll be there for the Northeastern game.

Holloman Sr. said he's proud of Eugene for his football achievements, but most satisfied with his son's life choices.

"He was able to see other kids do the wrong things and not get involved with it," he said, after confirming Tim Jr. is serving time in a Virginia Beach jail. "I'm most proud of that. I always taught him that. I taught his brother the same things but they didn't sink in."

Down the line, Eugene hopes his brother can see him play a college game.

"It's tough. My dad talks about it and my mom talks about all the time," Holloman said. "They say that I made the right decisions and they're so proud of me. They wish they could say the same thing for my brother."
Copyright (c) 2006, Byrd Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.
Author: MIKE BARBER, Daily News-Record
Section: Sports
Copyright (c) 2006, Byrd Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.