Jamere Holland: The Forgotten Speedster in Oregon

Jamere Holland is the fastest college football player in the country. He ran an automatically timed forty in 4.21 seconds, which would be the fastest time ever at the NFL combine. He is a former track star who ran the 100 meters in 10.36 seconds.

You would have never heard about him because his football career has never gone as planned.

He was a five-star receiver out of high school in California and was selected to America's Dream Team. In his senior year of high school he had 56 catches for 1,188 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Everything seemed perfect, as he received a full scholarship to USC in football and track, but he soon came to realize that things were not all as peachy as he first thought.

He never really meshed with head coach Pete Carroll, and nagging injuries prevented him from making an impact in his only season there.

All in all, he decided to follow another unhappy five-star recruit, running back Emmanuel Moody, to national champions Florida.

In a strange turn of events, the USC athletic department allowed Moody to leave but did not give Holland the same privilege. Although the reason was not ever publicly made known, it is thought that USC suspected Florida of foul play after hiring Holland's old high school coach.

Then in another strange turn of events, USC originally denied Holland the right to transfer to Oregon, where he had no connections.

"You can't let someone talk to other schools, stop going to meetings and other things, and then let them just go to another Pac-10 school,'' said a source familiar with the case. "This is not free agency.''

After several hearings, Holland was finally allowed to attend Oregon.

Due to NCAA transfer rules, Holland was forced to take a redshirt and sit out the 2007 season. He was forced to watch his team convert defensive backs into receivers because of the freakish amount of injuries, knowing there was nothing he could do to help.

Finally 2008 rolled around.

Originally listed as the starting receiver opposite of Jaison Williams, Jamere Holland suffered a severe knee injury which forced him to miss all of fall camp.

After missing camp, Holland was relegated to running a few reverses, catching a couple of passes, and returning a handful of kicks.

He looks to make a bigger impact in 2009, and he'll most likely be able to not only because of the emergence of quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, but because the other receivers around him—Chris Harper and Drew Davis—will be an upgrade over what we've seen recently.

If Holland can stay healthy, you could see one of the nation's best receivers in Eugene; possibly the best.