When it comes to recruiting, SMU head coach June Jones is not the most orthodox guy in the world. He is known for salvaging castoffs from other programs and offering obscure, often-overlooked high school athletes and making them into viable players.

He drew a measure of attention in February when he signed Estonian track star Margus Hunt to play defensive end for the Mustangs, and shortly before the start of SMU’s preseason workouts, he found another proverbial “diamond in the rough” in Marcus Holyfield.

Marcus Holyfield played wide receiver and safety, and returned kickoffs and punts ... when he last played football: in eighth grade (photo by Webmaster).

Holyfield is a wide receiver — probably — from Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu. But that’s where the comparisons to other high school athletes who signed national letters-of-intent to play college football this fall stop. Holyfield was an elite high school basketball player, and is a cousin of former world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield (whom he never has met).

But he doesn’t appear on any Hawaii all-state lists, or even all-conference teams. He has no high school Player of the Year awards, no available videotape and no statistics to compare to other candidates. He has never even been timed in a 40-yard dash

Compared to Hunt, he’s a seasoned veteran … but he hasn’t played a single football game since he was in the eighth grade.

“June Jones has two really good friends: one by the name of Artie Wilson,” Holyfield said. “He coaches basketball, and he grew up with Coach Jones. He was coaching me at the time, in an NCAA summer league in Hawaii, and I guess he was pretty impressed with my ability and athleticism. Another coach, Mel DeLaura, who used to coach with Coach Jones when (Jones) was at Hawaii — he’s still at Hawaii, while Coach Jones is here — he coach was a conditioning coach. What happened was, they run a speed and quickness clinic at my school, and I was trying to get better, as best I could, and get prepared to play in college somewhere. So I was going to that to work on my speed and footwork. I was attending those weekly, maybe two a week, and he was also surprised by my athleticism.

“Coach Jones came down to speak to us (at church), and both of them said, ‘you should come down to the service — June Jones is going to come out, and he’s going to speak.’ Artie Wilson — he regularly attends our church. So both of those guys are guys that June Jones really knows and trusts, and so they came to the same service, and they really made it a point that they were going to go up to June and talk to him about me, and say that he should recruit me. So it started from there.”

SMU wide receivers coach Jeff Reinebold acknowledged that Jones’ decision to offer Holyfield a scholarship didn’t follow traditional recruiting practices, but said that Jones’ willingness to take chances on such players is part of the reason for the success Jones has enjoyed throughout his career.

“We’ve done this before,” Reinebold said. “That was at the University of Hawaii — his name is (defensive end) Ikaika Alama-Francis, and he became a second-round draft choice for the Detroit Lions, so it’s not without precedent. Obviously, they have a long, long learning curve, but if you start with athletic ability first, and the desire to be a player, second, you’ve got a chance.

“It was June’s idea. You’ve got to understand that one of the great things about my boss is he has the ability to think outside of the box, and after you’ve been around him for a while, you recognize that that ability to think outside the box allows him to maximize whatever situation he’s in. I mean, he did some things at Hawaii that were unorthodox. Maybe you’d say ‘you can’t do it that way,’ but we did it that way and had success, and probably had success because we did things in an unorthodox fashion. Now it’s the same thing with this — if you’re in Texas or you’re or Notre Dame or USC or one of those places, you probably don’t have to take a chance like that, but it’s the ability to access a player. It’s the same thing with Margus Hunt — there’s a guy who even last spring had never played a down of football, but you offer him because of what he can do physically, and now it comes down to us, as coaches, developing that ability. (Holyfield) has got the athletic tools — you look at a guy who’s 6-foot-2 and (175) pounds, and he’s got the ability to jump, he has soft hands … so you say, ‘OK, there’s going to be a place on the field for the kid at some point.’ Now it’s just a question of finding where that is.”

Jones said he was sold on Holyfield’s potential in large part because of his ability on the basketball court.

“He plays basketball, and he averaged 22 points a game,” Jones said. “He’s got some quickness and athleticism — he’s got to get stronger, but he’s a very good athlete.”

Jones said Hunt is probably the bigger longshot of the two, because the Mustangs’ new defensive end never has played a down of football in his life, but said Holyfield has the tools to become an effective player down the road.

“Holyfield’s got to grow up and get stronger, but he’s got all the athleticism, and he’s a tough guy.”

Jones acknowledged that some of his assistant coaches might have scratched their heads at the idea of offering a scholarship to a basketball star who hadn’t played football at all in high school, but wasn’t concerned about any skepticism from his staff.

“I’m sure some of them probably did,” he said, “but I’ve been there, done that before, so it’s not hard to deal with.”

Holyfield, who played wide receiver, some safety and returned kickoffs and punts, gave up football after the eighth grade so he could focus solely on improving on the basketball court, where he became a three-time all-state honoree. His scholarship makes football his top priority, but said that if given the chance, he’d like to play both sports for the Mustangs.

“I made that sacrifice, but I always had it in the back of my mind that if an opportunity such as the one I’ve got now, I would be willing to take it,” he said, “because even though I had to sacrifice basketball — it was a big sacrifice for me, because I really love basketball — I was willing to make that sacrifice. Coach Jones is recruiting me for football, but he knows that I want to play basketball, too. I’m going to try to play football and basketball, but I have a scholarship in football, and I’m going to try to walk on in basketball.

“I haven’t gotten to meet (SMU men’s basketball head coach Matt Doherty) yet. I’m really excited to see the facility for basketball and everything, but I’m really excited to play football now. I’m going to get in shape, work hard and just try to get better every day.”

Holyfield said that he had one scholarship offer in basketball, but that his hesitation to accept it immediately got the offer pulled.

“I had one very early, before the season, at Cal State-Bakersfield, but I guess I didn’t commit when they wanted me to commit, so I lost that one,” he said. “Then I was trying to talk to Northern Iowa and Iowa State, and they didn’t give me scholarships, but they were looking at me, and trying to follow me, and things like that. But the place I committed to before was a D-II NAIA school, Cal Maritime Academy. They wanted me to play basketball there — they weren’t going to give me a full ride, but they were trying to give me as much as they could, because they had just started their recruiting process.”

Reinebold said he doesn’t really have a feel for just how fast Holyfield is, because the need to think through assignments can slow a player’s reactions on the field.

“I have no idea,” Reinebold said when asked his impressions of Holyfield’s speed. “He doesn’t run like Al (wide receiverAldrick Robinson), but he doesn’t run like he’s out of place, either. Part of that is he’s confused, and when you’re confused, you don’t run as fast as when you know what you’re doing, so he’ll get faster as he gets more comfortable.”

With a total of two practices in the last five years, Holyfield is understandably unsure as to what he can expect in 2009. Common sense suggests he’ll redshirt his first season, but Holyfield said that while that remains an obvious possibility, it certainly isn’t his goal.”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Whatever happens, I’m just going to work hard. If it comes, where June Jones says ‘you should redshirt,’ then I’ll just do whatever is best.

“But if I can get up to speed and work hard enough and be up with everybody else and get a chance to play, that would be great. That’s what I’m shooting for right now.”