In the midst of obscurity on every team sits the walk-ons. These players rarely enter the game, and if they do, it’s once half the fans have left, the media stories have been written and the game is all but over. Yet these players, though unknown to most and lacking the on-court production that we have come to define athletes and teams by, are as integral members as any to this South Carolina men’s basketball team.
I recently went to Williams-Brice Stadium to conduct interviews with individual basketball players. While walking in, I was stopped by a security guard and asked to name the players I was interviewing. I started rattling off the names, starting first with PJ Dozier, and slowly sliding down my list until I hit the names of two of the walk-ons: Jarrell Holliman and John Ragin. At first, the security guard nodded at the mention of key players, saying that she knew them. Yet with Holliman, a look of confusion slid across her face and I was asked, “You mean the football player?” For Ragin, the name rang zero bells.
Recognition and accolades simply do not come with the roles that Ragin and Holliman have taken on this team.
Ragin attempted to frame his role as a walk-on to me. He said his job was to "make sure everyone is getting better every day and compete hard against everyone.”
Holliman made sure to follow this answer up with a more emotionally-focused description, saying their role was to “bring an uplifting spirit every time [they] come into the gym.”
In all 34 games that South Carolina played last season, Holliman and Ragin combined to play for 17 minutes. Ragin accounts for two of South Carolina’s 2,583 points, and one of their 1,371 rebounds. Holliman was left empty-handed.
Dozier, the star point guard and a five-star recruit, was quick to point out their importance, though, when their names were brought up.
“The vibe when those two are in the locker room is great,” Dozier said through a smile. “They put it aside, them being walk-ons, you forget about all that. They help us in practice, off the court, anything that we need or anything that we are lacking, they are there to pick us up.”
Yet for Holliman and Ragin, being a walk-on doesn’t mean that focus isn’t required on the court itself. It doesn’t mean that they aren’t still striving to become better players, or still working on their game.
Holliman realized last year the number of veterans that his team had in their frontcourt. Even more importantly, though, he realized that they were soon going to be graduating, and thus set out to do what he could about it. He made sure to learn the offensive and defensive systems being implemented, so that when this season came around he would be able to help ease the transition from veterans to freshman, and also maybe play himself.
“Yeah, I hope so,” Holliman said when asked about whether he plans on getting playing time this season. “I’m working towards getting on the court as much as possible.”
The role of a walk-on is simple: Know your role, and fill it to the fullest. Be it providing energy, leadership or a competitive challenge, Ragin and Holliman have chosen to help this South Carolina men’s team in the least glamorous, but most respectable, way possible.