ARKADELPHIA — Most of Dustin Holland’s days start the same way. He wakes up in Bryant, takes his two children and three step-children to school, then heads south down Interstate 30 toward Henderson State’s Arkadelphia campus.
He spends his mornings in classes, his afternoons in meetings with his Reddies teammates and then at practice before heading back to Bryant to his wife and five children.
“It’s not your average college thing,” Holland said. “But I think it keeps me grounded.”
Holland, a 24-year-old sophomore, is part of a Henderson State group of receivers who are anything but average, both in ability and background. It includes four receivers who are 22 or older and who arrived in Arkadelphia who have either endured legal trouble, struggling with academics or leaving their first school.
“It’s not like we’re playing 18-year-olds out there,” Coach Scott Maxfield said. “These are grown men.”
Robert Jordan is a 23-yearold junior who was dismissed from two Mississippi junior colleges, Labroderick Barnett is a 24-year-old senior who originally signed with Alcorn State in 2006, and Darius Davis is a 22-year-old sophomore who has twice missed seasons because of academic issues.
“We’re kind of underdogs,” Holland said. “Everybody has kind of wrote us off as thugs and not being able to function in society. We came here and we’re part of an undefeated team.”
The four make up the bulk of a receivers group that has helped the Reddies to a 9-0 start, a No. 8 NCAA Division II national ranking and a likely appearance in their first Division II playoff field. The Reddies are also one victory shy of the program’s first undefeated and untied season.
Heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale against rival Ouachita Baptist, Henderson State leads Division II with an average of 54.5 points per game and ranks second in total yards (521.2) and passing yards (392.6).
Holland has caught 46 passes for 693 yards with 4 touchdowns, and his average of 77.0 yards per game is third in the Great American Conference.
Jordan leads with 48 catches for 866 yards and 9 touchdowns — he’s also returned 2 punts for touchdowns — while Davis has caught 8 touchdown passes and Barnett has caught 4 to headline a group that shuffles in as many as eight receivers in a game.
Most of them aren’t what Maxfield would describe as “your normal high school guy.”
Holland said he served a 21/2-month jail sentence on a drug charge after a graduating from Bryant High School in 2006.
Jordan, originally from Miami, said he spent six months in a Starkville, Miss., jail after a fight before reconnecting with offensive coordinator Mike Volarvich at Henderson State, who coached him at both Mississippi junior colleges.
“I love football,” Jordan said. “When I got dismissed the first time, I’m at home just sitting around not doing anything. That wasn’t the life I wanted to live.”
Barnett had to go to Mississippi Delta Community College after leaving Alcorn State before getting to Henderson State last year. Davis signed with the Reddies out of high school but missed the 2009 and 2011 seasons because he wasn’t academically eligible.
Maxfield, who is in his eighth year in Arkadelphia, said he has no qualms about taking in players who may have lost an initial chance elsewhere. He’ll look at most players who still have ability, even with a checkered past, provided they come with a good reference and a willingness to dedicate time to classes, meetings and practice.
“At the Division II level you’ve got to approach recruiting a little bit differently than you do at the University of Arkansas,” Maxfield said. “We’re not going to get the same kind of guy. We’re looking for the same kind of player.”
Henderson State wasn’t Holland’s first choice when he decided to get back into football. He first tried to walk on at Arkansas Tech but said he was told no, so he enrolled at Henderson State instead in the spring of 2010.
He redshirted that season as a walk-on — he said his mother helped with paying for the kids’ expenses — and then earned a scholarship the next year. He credits Maxfield and the other coaches for giving him a chance almost two years ago.
“They’re giving us a chance to do something extraordinary where nobody else would,” Holland said. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here today. No question.”
Super Region 3
The regional rankings help determine the NCAA Division II playoff field. Six teams from each of the four regions earn a playoff spot, those selected must be ranked among the top eight. Super Region 3 consists of the Great Americna Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Athletic Conference:
RK. SCHOOL (CONF.) ................ REC
Minn. St.-Mankato (NSIC) ........ 10-0
Henderson State (GAC) ..........9-0
NW Missouri State (MIAA) .........9-1
Harding (GAC) ....................8-1
Missouri Western (MIAA) ...........9-1 6. Minnesota-Duluth (NSIC) ............9-1 7. Winona State (NSIC) ...................8-2 8. Emporia State (MIAA) .................8-2 9. Sioux Falls (NSIC) .......................8-2
Southern Arkansas (GAC) .....6-2
Up next OUACHITA BAPTIST
AT HENDERSON STATE
WHEN 3 p.m. Saturday WHERE Carpenter-Haygood Stadium, Arkadelphia RECORDS Henderson State 9-0, 7-0 Great American Conference; Ouachita Baptist 6-3, 4-3 GAC RANKINGS Henderson State: No. 8 in AFCA NCAA Division II poll COACHES Henderson State: Scott Maxfield (48-34 in eighth season); Ouachita Baptist: Todd Knight (60-78 in 14th season) RADIO KDEL-FM, 100.9, in Arkadelphia; KYXK-FM, 106.9, in Gurdon-Arkadelphia; KELD-FM, 106.5, in El Dorado-Hampton; KZHS-AM, 590, in Hot Springs; KVMA-AM, 630, in Magnolia; KNAS-FM, 105.5, in Nashville; KUOAAM, 1290, in Siloam Springs; KQORFM, 105.3, in Mena. INTERNET hsusports.com, obutigers. com
Sports, Pages 23 on 11/09/2012