Fort Collins – After almost five years, this was the happy ending that had eluded Colorado State quarterback Justin Holland.
“Nobody said it was going to be easy. And it hasn’t been easy. Believe me,” Holland said Thursday night, after beating Air Force 41-23.
A television camera connected to a national audience finally caught Holland smiling.
He looked like the winner nobody at Colorado State had seen for more than tantalizing glimpses.
“I’m a completely different player from the cocky freshman I was coming in here. It’s night and day from the guy I was,” Holland admitted. “I’m a more humble guy now who wants to be a team player.”
His line in the box score sparkled 17 completions for 318 yards and three touchdowns, but that was not Holland’s most amazing statistic.
This was the first time Holland started a Mountain West Conference game when he walked off the field with both a CSU victory and his health.
The stupid interception of arrogance had threatened to become the defining image of Holland’s career.
But everything everybody always wanted him to be was on full display late in the first half, with the Rams trailing 9-7 and the football resting at the CSU 12-yard line, with a score a long, long way off in the darkness.
“Man, we got to get out of here,” said Rams coach Sonny Lubick, muttering doubt in the ears of his staff after a Holland incompletion on first down.
But before Lubick could pull the plug on the red-ball drill, Holland efficiently directed CSU 88 yards to a touchdown in 58 seconds. It was a thing of stunning beauty.
“It’s my favorite time of football. I’m not going to lie,” said Holland, who has always loved playing on the ragged edge, sometimes too much.
If college is guaranteed to be the best years of a young man’s life, then Holland could certainly demand a refund.
Since arriving at Colorado State as a celebrated prospect in 2001, his life had been a series of cold benches, unfulfilled potential, tears and crutches.
Perseverance is just another word for bummer deal.
Holland graduated from Bear Creek High School with 10,000 passing yards and a blue-chip pedigree that suggested CSU recruiting had finally hit the big time.
But Holland’s obvious skills were long stuck in the shadows behind the brighter-than-sunshine charisma of Bradlee Van Pelt.
When Holland finally got the a chance to step out on his own, he got stomped.
The Rams dropped seven of his 10 starts, including a heartbreaking loss to Colorado in 2004 that reduced the quarterback to tears.
This was the quarterback who seemed destined to rewrite every single-season record in the CSU book?
Not long after Holland fractured his ankle during a painful October victory at San Diego State last season, that dangerous cockiness of adolescence was shattered on the floor of the press box, where he would be forced to watch defeats with injured teammate Matt Bartz.
“I kind of held his head on my shoulder. It was really tough to watch,” Bartz said. “Stuff happens. Everybody makes mistakes. But we forgive (Holland) easily, because we know what he can do.”
The same brutal honesty of Lubick that once made Holland bristle is now understood and genuinely appreciated.
A young gunslinger discovered the only target hit by indiscriminate bullets is often your own foot.
In a nation of addicts to instant gratification, Holland learned to turn a deaf ear to boos of impatience and trust teammates to carry the load.
“People told me Sonny Lubick would teach me to be a man,” Holland said. “And he has. What you see is the metamorphosis.”
At 50 minutes past 9 o’clock, as the red taillights of cars flowed from the stadium parking lot, the son of Bob and Kathy Holland appeared to be a grown man who knows the score.
“It’s not about me,” Holland said. “It’s about all the players in this locker room.”
It’s never too late to share a happy ending.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
