Feature Spotlight: Jevon Holland
__________________________________________________________________________
Player Bio
Pos: Safety H: 6’1” W: 192
Hometown: Pleasanton, CA. (Bishop O’Dowd HS)
Class: Sophomore
- Holland, the ball-hawk out of Pleasanton, California, had himself and impressive freshman season where he earned the Len Casanova Award as freshman of the year. The four-star safety played all 13 regular season games for Oregon as a freshman in 2018, starting in two. Coming out of Bishop O’Dowd as the second highest rated safety in the state of California by 247Sports.com, Holland was highly touted entering the Ducks’ program. ESPN has Holland ranked as the No. 2 safety in the state, while 247Sports ranks him as the 9th best safety in the nation and 138th overall prospect.
- The consensus four-star prospect by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports finished second in the Pac-12 with a team-high five interceptions. Entering 2019 as the clear front-runner to start at safety for Oregon, Holland finished 2018 tied second among FBS freshman in interceptions (5). With the most interceptions by a freshman at UO since Jairus Byrd in 2006. Holland’s performance as a freshman earned him a coverage grade of 89.3 by PFF. Giving him the 13th overall grade as a safety in the nation, second among the Pac-12.
__________________________________________________________________________
Career Stats
(2018)
GP: 13 - SOLO: 32 - AST: 12 - TOT: 44 - INT: 5 - PD: 11
__________________________________________________________________________
Best Performance: Week 5 vs California
- Posting a coverage grade of 89.3 by PFF helps make for a lot of good games, but Holland’s performance against California in Oregon’s first road game of the season was perhaps tops. Bouncing back from their heartbreaking loss against Stanford, Holland made two second half interceptions to help steal a road win against the 24th ranked Golden Bears. His two interceptions along with a pass deflection and three solo tackles earned him a spot on the Pro Football Focus Pac-12 Team of the Week. Holland didn’t start in the 42-24 victory over Cal, but he did start the following week against Washington where he made a career-high six tackles.
Worst Performance: Week 2 vs Portland State
- Merely based off statistical output alone, week 2 suffices as the choice for “the bottom of the barrel”. Picking a game amongst a handful of sub-par performances based primarily on limited playing time seems unfair, but what the heck. Holland had a season-low for tackles in a single game with just one tackle made against Portland State in the Ducks’ 62-14 non-conference win.
__________________________________________________________________________
Awards
- Len Casanova Award (Freshman of the Year)
- Pro Football Focus Team of the Week (Week 3)
- Pro Football Focus Pac-12 Team of the Week (Week 3 & 5)
- 2017 North Coast Section Co-Defensive Player of the Year
- 2017 San Fransisco Chronicle East Bay Player of the Year
__________________________________________________________________________
Highlights
- Holland is a ball-hawk in every sense of the term. He is a plus athlete that only saw two starts, but totaled 618 snaps as a freshman. Averaging a little over 47 snaps per game. Holland turned heads during spring ball his freshman year. Players and coaches raved about him and his talent; earning him playing time quick.
INTERCEPTED.
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 31, 2018
Jevon Holland showin' why he's the @pac12 interception leader pic.twitter.com/iwImPMgs7o
- His hands and athleticism have been a welcome addition to the defensive side of the ball in his first season as a safety with Oregon, totaling five interceptions as a freshman. Holland has great eye discipline and understanding when it comes to jumping routes and where the ball is in the air. The top end athleticism he possesses allows him to break on routes late and make up ground where he fell behind. He’s extremely explosive and likely to take over on punt returns for the Ducks in the 2019-20 season.
- As the No. 2 ranked athlete in California by ESPN, Holland was a star on all three phases of the game. As a receiver, a defensive back and as a return man. As a receiver at Bishop O’Dowd High school, Holland totaled 1,012 yards and 12 touchdowns on 35 receptions. As a returner, he took 5 of 23 to the house and averaged 22 yards per return. As of now, he has only caught one punt, in which he signaled for the fair catch.
- Here’s a little glimpse of what we might expect to see out of him as a punt returner next season.
Senior Season Highlights
— Bay Area Recruits (@bayfbrecruits) November 29, 2017
Jevon Holland (@HollandJevon)
Bishop O’Dowd High School ‘18
University of Oregon COMMIT
✔️4⭐️ ATH (@247Sports)
ATH/DB/WR
6’0 175
@KTPrepElite Alum
Full Highlights (https://t.co/QhQBmzA6Mv)#BayFBRecruits18 pic.twitter.com/MvSbdhy8gu