MORGANTOWN — Garnett Hollis knew exactly what he was looking for when he entered the transfer portal in February.
Hollis, who spent the past four seasons at Northwestern, wanted to find a coach that would make him better, a team that could compete for a championship and a fanbase that would cheer for him. He feels that he’s found all three at WVU.
“Being at Northwestern I was just ready for a change,” the senior cornerback said after practice on Friday. “For my last year, I wanted to get everything I could out of college football. Coming to West Virginia, they have the fanbase, they had the winning record, they have a lot of players coming back and they have good coaches.”
Like most college football players, Hollis dreams of playing in the NFL next season. At 6-1 and 200 pounds, he has the ideal size for it, but he felt he needed more opportunity.
“I’m trying to get to the next level,” Hollis said. “The school that I went to, I needed to be in a position to take that next step.”
Fortunately for Hollis, West Virginia has just taken a one-year transfer, developed him into a top cornerback and helped him get to the pros last year with Beanie Bishop.
“(Secondary) Coach ShaDon (Brown) made me feel like I can do that,” Hollis said. “They made me feel like I can be a top-round guy and that I can make plays. With Beanie’s success, they felt like I could have that same success.”
Beanie, who also came from a Big Ten team, led the nation in pass breakups and was a consensus All-American last season with WVU. He’s currently in training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I only had 37 targets last year in the Big Ten, but (Bishop) had 24 pass breakups,” Hollis said. “So you can see the difference in the number of times he was targeted compared to me. Being able to see the technique that Coach ShaDon implemented and seeing it work, it was really a no-brainer to follow a consensus All-American and try to replace him.”
Hollis played in 26 games at Northwestern, registering two interceptions and six pass deflections. Bishop didn’t have much more production when he transferred to WVU and Hollis believes he can make the same kind of leap forward.
“I wanted to be coached,” Hollis said. “I wanted my technique to be heightened, I wanted my feet to get better, I wanted my ball skills to get better.”
Getting better on the field was only part of Hollis’ transfer wishlist, the other part had to do with the people in the stands. In Chicago, Northwestern is not the top draw in town. Behind the Bears, Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks, the Wildcats can get a little lost in the shuffle.
That is not the case with the Mountaineers in Morgantown.
“That was one thing I was excited about,” Hollis said. “I wanted to be in a college town. I never got that at Northwestern. Growing up, I wanted every Saturday I wanted the game to be the biggest thing in the state. Now, I have that opportunity to go out there and play in front of these types of fans.”
Hollis said he can’t wait until the team’s season-opener at home against Penn State, a familiar foe from his Big Ten days.
“I played in front of big crowds, I played at Penn State, Nebraska and Michigan, but they weren’t rooting for me,” he said. “Now having a full stadium that’s rooting for my side of the ball and being able to have the crowd super loud on third downs, that’s something I feel like is going to be night-and-day different.”
So, West Virginia had everything Hollis was looking for. What made the even sweeter was that he got to do it with one of his best friends, former Northwestern teammate Jaheem Joseph.
Joseph, a junior safety, was with Hollis all four years at Northwestern and the two became fast friends.
“We met on our official (visit) to Northwestern and we were roommates,” Hollis explained. “Then that kind of just became a lifelong friendship.”
Joseph entered the portal and was in touch with WVU before Hollis. He actually helped Hollis get on the Mountaineers’ radar.
“Before I got in the portal, he was getting recruited by West Virginia hard and I just kind of asked him to see if they needed a corner,” Hollis joked. “He said they did so once I got in the portal it was kind of like diving headfirst into them recruiting me.”
The pair hadn’t planned to transfer to the same place, although there’s no complaining that’s how it ended up.
“Being able to do it together was something we were definitely looking forward to,” Hollis said. “We didn’t plan it, that’s the crazy part. It wasn’t planned, it just kind of worked out this way and it’s a blessing that it did.”
