Owen Holloway Drafted by Orange County, Heads Back Home
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ANAHEIM -- Last Friday night, the Orange County Otters surprised some ISFL fans and teams alike by selecting Myrtle Beach quarterback-turned-wide receiver Owen Holloway with the 39th overall selection. The Otters return receivers Future Trunks and Garfield Despacito, Jr. from last season's roster, as well as tight end Jeffrey Phillips. Furthermore, Holloway expressed a strong desire to be heavily involved in his eventual team's offense from his first day in practice. Naturally, with the Otters' receiver group being what it is, Holloway expressed trepidation about being drafted to his hometown team. Yet, very clearly, at some point between when Holloway made those comments and when the ISFL Draft ran its course last week, something very significant changed. In Holloway's own words, "The more I thought about it the more Orange County just felt like home".
It is a sentiment that makes sense in more ways than one for the former Kent State star. Holloway was born and raised in Anaheim, California, and played his high school football at Junipero Serra, a well known program in the Los Angeles area. He grew up a fan of the Otters, watching Mike Boss lead the team to three consecutive Ultimus victories. It was Boss, in fact, who inspired Holloway to gut it out at quarterback for so long. Popularly considered the best quarterback in ISFL history, Boss himself had an embattled start to his career, competing with fellow Otter Mike Bercovici for the team's starting role. Holloway saw that story as reason to continue persevering as a quarterback, despite many attempts to lure him to the receiver or running back positions along the way.
Eventually, however, Owen Holloway indeed relented, and transitioned to the wide receiver position late in the most recent DSFL season. In doing so, he says he was reminded of other Otters he watched when he was younger, particularly those for whom wide receiver was a learned position, rather than one they came up playing. The Otters' success in transitioning those players, he says, was a key part of him eventually opening up to playing for his hometown team. In his words "When I looked at some of the guys where I felt there were parallels. Learning new positions on the fly. The Otters have done a great job with them. Carlito Crush went from a talented but unproductive tight end to an MVP and, eventually, a Hall of Famer. Tegan Atwell. Started off at corner, Otters made her a really successful wideout. It was really just that the more I looked at the way they were able to convert talent into production, the more excited I actually started to get about playing there."
It may help Holloway's cause that the offense is undergoing some turnover this season. Suleiman Ramza is replacing the legendary Franklin Armstrong, so no receiver truly has a leg up in terms of developing chemistry with the DSFL's reigning MVP. Moreover, the Otters' only other offensive selection in the first few rounds was a true throwback player in Bronko Mills, the running back-slash-fullback hybrid out of Tijuana, selected with the pick immediately following Holloway. Interestingly enough, the two have a friendship that dates back to their college days, when Mills' Fighting Irish secured a narrow victory against the Golden Flashes in one of Holloway's best college performances. In the end, Holloway says, all of the pieces came together better than if he'd drawn it up himself.
Now, by all accounts, that desire to play for Orange County is paying some serious dividends for his career. Orange County's general manager, Easton Morshiken, has been effusive in his praise of the receiver, saying that "He looks like a natural, full stop. If I hadn't known about this kid's background, I'd have assumed he's been playing the position his whole life. Maybe it's the experience at quarterback that helps, but he just knows what he needs to do, every play, and he executes. He's got a great intuition for finding the soft spot against zone coverage, and he's such an explosive athlete that some of our defensive backs are struggling to stick with him in man-to-man situations. That should tell you something, because we think our guys are some of the best there are in this game. We're just really excited, he's going to be a special player." Orange County's coaching staff sees Holloway similar to the way he sees himself, and reports out of the team's facility are that he is getting plenty of first team reps alongside Trunks and Despacito, Jr. Time will tell just how good Holloway can be, but the Otters certainly don't seem intent on keeping it a secret for long.
ANAHEIM -- Last Friday night, the Orange County Otters surprised some ISFL fans and teams alike by selecting Myrtle Beach quarterback-turned-wide receiver Owen Holloway with the 39th overall selection. The Otters return receivers Future Trunks and Garfield Despacito, Jr. from last season's roster, as well as tight end Jeffrey Phillips. Furthermore, Holloway expressed a strong desire to be heavily involved in his eventual team's offense from his first day in practice. Naturally, with the Otters' receiver group being what it is, Holloway expressed trepidation about being drafted to his hometown team. Yet, very clearly, at some point between when Holloway made those comments and when the ISFL Draft ran its course last week, something very significant changed. In Holloway's own words, "The more I thought about it the more Orange County just felt like home".
It is a sentiment that makes sense in more ways than one for the former Kent State star. Holloway was born and raised in Anaheim, California, and played his high school football at Junipero Serra, a well known program in the Los Angeles area. He grew up a fan of the Otters, watching Mike Boss lead the team to three consecutive Ultimus victories. It was Boss, in fact, who inspired Holloway to gut it out at quarterback for so long. Popularly considered the best quarterback in ISFL history, Boss himself had an embattled start to his career, competing with fellow Otter Mike Bercovici for the team's starting role. Holloway saw that story as reason to continue persevering as a quarterback, despite many attempts to lure him to the receiver or running back positions along the way.
Eventually, however, Owen Holloway indeed relented, and transitioned to the wide receiver position late in the most recent DSFL season. In doing so, he says he was reminded of other Otters he watched when he was younger, particularly those for whom wide receiver was a learned position, rather than one they came up playing. The Otters' success in transitioning those players, he says, was a key part of him eventually opening up to playing for his hometown team. In his words "When I looked at some of the guys where I felt there were parallels. Learning new positions on the fly. The Otters have done a great job with them. Carlito Crush went from a talented but unproductive tight end to an MVP and, eventually, a Hall of Famer. Tegan Atwell. Started off at corner, Otters made her a really successful wideout. It was really just that the more I looked at the way they were able to convert talent into production, the more excited I actually started to get about playing there."
It may help Holloway's cause that the offense is undergoing some turnover this season. Suleiman Ramza is replacing the legendary Franklin Armstrong, so no receiver truly has a leg up in terms of developing chemistry with the DSFL's reigning MVP. Moreover, the Otters' only other offensive selection in the first few rounds was a true throwback player in Bronko Mills, the running back-slash-fullback hybrid out of Tijuana, selected with the pick immediately following Holloway. Interestingly enough, the two have a friendship that dates back to their college days, when Mills' Fighting Irish secured a narrow victory against the Golden Flashes in one of Holloway's best college performances. In the end, Holloway says, all of the pieces came together better than if he'd drawn it up himself.
Now, by all accounts, that desire to play for Orange County is paying some serious dividends for his career. Orange County's general manager, Easton Morshiken, has been effusive in his praise of the receiver, saying that "He looks like a natural, full stop. If I hadn't known about this kid's background, I'd have assumed he's been playing the position his whole life. Maybe it's the experience at quarterback that helps, but he just knows what he needs to do, every play, and he executes. He's got a great intuition for finding the soft spot against zone coverage, and he's such an explosive athlete that some of our defensive backs are struggling to stick with him in man-to-man situations. That should tell you something, because we think our guys are some of the best there are in this game. We're just really excited, he's going to be a special player." Orange County's coaching staff sees Holloway similar to the way he sees himself, and reports out of the team's facility are that he is getting plenty of first team reps alongside Trunks and Despacito, Jr. Time will tell just how good Holloway can be, but the Otters certainly don't seem intent on keeping it a secret for long.
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