Big 12: Texas Forward Jonathan Holmes’ Weight Loss Means More Size For Longhorns
By Cody Daniel
The offseason heading into his final year on the 40 Acres in Austin for Jonathan Holmes has been far from an easy one. The cycle began with the commitment of the nation’s No. 2 overall recruit, a seven-foot center/power forward combo with the ability and preference to step out beyond the perimeter in Myles Turner. The commitment led to the evident understanding that in order for Holmes to remain as a primary focus in the Texas offense, he must be able to become more versatile and this, in turn, ultimately led to Holmes seeing some noticeable weight loss over the past few months in preparation for the upcoming season.
At the end of the Longhorns’ heartbreaking tournament run in March, Holmes was the starting power forward and weighed around 254 pounds. Entering the 2014-15 campaign, Holmes’ weight of 232 pounds will allow him to play some quality minutes on the perimeter as well as see his usual minutes in the post, although, with Holmes slimming down and Texas having so many towering options in the paint, don’t expect to see Holmes in the paint nearly as much as he was last season.
But this is a change Holmes has been expecting since last season, according to Rivals.com:
“I talked about it with coach last year,” said Holmes. “He told me one of the main things I needed to do was to lose the weight if I wanted to be serious about it, so that’s what I did. I told coach I’m down to do whatever you want me to do. I just want to win. He told me that’s one of the things I needed to do – lose the weight. Just being able to play the three is something that can expand my personal game and help my team out.”
Well, if he wanted to help his team out, slimming down and consuming a role on the perimeter for the Longhorns — which is what many consider their weakness — is a great way to do so, while also freeing up plenty of extra minutes for the big fellas in the paint.
But the Horns are one of the very few teams who have the skill and versatility to have yet another big guy outside running the wing, even alongside Holmes. The Longhorns held an open scrimmage a couple weeks ago and during this, they threw out a lineup that included 6’9” Cameron Ridley, the 7’0″ Turner, 6’9″ Connor Lammert and their star point guard, Isaiah Taylor in the backcourt with Holmes.
It wouldn’t be the most skilled lineup, but it would unquestionably be one of the biggest, especially when you can swap Lammert out with 6’11” Prince Ibeh.
“It’s bigger than some NBA teams,” Holmes said about the lineups Texas has been working on. “When we tried it out, it’s been me, Isaiah, Myles, Cam or Prince, and Connor. It’s pretty big. We’re still working on some slides and rotations. We have to work on it more in practice for us to be able to do it, but I think eventually if we can get that down it will help us.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be in the best interest of Barnes to run this lineup consistently froma scoring standpoint, but could you imagine the tyranny they would have defensively and on the boards over just about anyone not named Kentucky.
All I can say is Texas is very loaded and they’re going to be very, very good this season. Now that Barnes is moving his leading scorer, who is now slimmer and in a position to have more scoring opportunities, while also putting All-American caliber talent in his place, it just goes to show that the hype surrounding the transformation Barnes has done with this Texas program with his workhorse, Holmes at his side is a very real thing.
All quotes were obtained from Rivals.com