Dec. 5—It was about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday when a message came over the intercom at Blackville-Hilda High School.
Students were told that, if they wanted, they could leave class and walk — quietly — down to the school’s gym to help celebrate a first in the storied history of the Fighting Hawks’ football program.
Seated at a table in the middle of the gym, surrounded by family, friends, teammates and coaches, senior Jaquel Holman became the program’s first early signee — and to his dream school, at that. Holman put pen to paper Wednesday morning, then was honored in front of the school and community for signing to play football at the University of South Carolina.
“First, I want to thank God and my family and Blackville as a community staying behind me for a wonderful two years of being here playing football,” he said. “I’m just blessed, at the end of the day. I put in the hard work, and I’m going to my dream school.”
Holman, who returned home to Blackville-Hilda — his grandfather was a three-term mayor of Blackville — after his sophomore season at South Aiken, wasted little time earning statewide attention at both running back and linebacker. He was a two-time Region Player of the Year and as a senior was selected to both the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas and the Border Bowl.
In two years, he rushed for 3,138 yards and 42 touchdowns on just 306 carries, an average of 10.3 yards per attempt. He also caught two touchdowns and made 177 total tackles in three seasons with 24 tackles for loss, three sacks, two interceptions with a return for a touchdown, six forced fumbles and one recovery.
He was a Class A All-State selection last year, and head coach Kevin Jones expects Holman to make it back-to-back once this year’s teams are released. As a senior, he ran the ball 153 times for 1,610 yards with 26 touchdowns, helping the Fighting Hawks to a 9-3 record and second-place finish in Region 3-A.
“I can’t say enough good things about not only Jaquel but his family, Jones said. “Coming back over here, we had just come off a season where we didn’t have a very good win-loss record (2-8 in 2022), trying to kind of change some things and get the program headed in the right direction. He stepped in. From the first time that he was on campus until now, he’s a kid that’s never missed a practice. He never misses workouts. He just does things the right way. On top of being uber-talented when it comes to having size and speed and being a great football player, he’s just a really, really good kid. We’re incredibly proud of him.”
Holman will graduate and enroll early at South Carolina, which he chose over offers from schools like North Carolina State, Pitt and The Citadel. Already a Gamecock fan, Holman didn’t need Shane Beamer and his staff to push him too hard toward Columbia.
“Even way before the offer when they were talking to me, it always felt like home,” said Holman, who committed June 8 and intends to study sports management. “I love Coach Beamer and his staff, and I can’t wait to get there and work.”
Holman joins a South Carolina program is currently one of the hottest in the country, winners of six straight to reach No. 14 in the College Football Playoff rankings. He said he likes that the Gamecocks have a true quarterback in LaNorris Sellers who’s a captain of the team, and with so many other young contributors he feels the future is bright.
Jones advised Holman to take everything in during the recruiting process in order to figure out what was going to be the best fit for him, then lay out the game plan for going through the process of how he as a player can get himself in the best position as early as possible to be successful.
So far, so good.
“He’s just a kid that’s going to go in there and work hard,” Jones said. “His teammates are going to love him. The coaches already love him. That’s one thing I can say since he was recruited — I’ve talked more to Shane Beamer and Clayton White and Torrian Gray than I have in my whole career. They’re high on him, and I think he’s going to prove to be a worthwhile investment for the program.”
Jones praised Holman for his humility, which he attributed in large part to Holman’s family. Jones said it would be easy to just list all of Holman’s flashy numbers and accomplishments, yet what he likes to bring up first is Holman’s perfect attendance at practice and workouts and the way he tossed the ball to the referee after each of those 45 total touchdowns — no showboating or dancing, unless it was to join in on the cheerleaders’ choreography while rooting on his teammates in the second half with a comfortable lead.
Or how Holman, who has a closet’s worth of cleats, gloves, sweatbands and whatever else given to him by schools recruiting him, chose to stick with the program’s principles and match his teammates’ jerseys and cleats.
He’ll head to Columbia with fresh legs — he had more games with single-digit carries (five) than games with 20 or more (two) the last two seasons. The Gamecocks officially listed him as an athlete on their list of signees, though Jones recalls hearing more than one friendly argument between their coaches about whether he’d play on defense or offense.
“Right now, they like me at nickel back,” Holman said. “But, then again, they don’t have a lot of running backs coming up. One of them just hit the portal, and then they’re losing Raheim (Sanders) and (Juju McDowell). They’re losing running backs, so I’m not sure. I could be used some on the offensive side of the ball, but I’m not really sure yet.”
As such, he’ll just stay ready and willing to contribute in any way. That’s the mindset he carried back home to Blackville-Hilda, and it’s one that’s carried him to the Southeastern Conference.
“It’s great. It’s great. Like I said, I’m blessed,” he said. “People said when I came down here, ‘You’re not going to get enough exposure down there. The school is too small.’ But it’s like my mama always told me, ‘You go out there and shock the world.’ That’s what I did, and it’s not over yet.”
