Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Pearl River’s Jimmy Oliver repeats as NJCAA ‘Offensive Player of Year’

    POPLARVILLE — Pearl River Community College two-year football All-American Jimmy Oliver has been named the NJCAA’s “Offensive Player of the Year” for the second straight season.
    Oliver, a redshirt sophomore from East Marion who guided the Wildcats to an unprecedented 20-1 record the past two seasons as starting quarterback, led the state and nation in passing and individual total offense this past season which ended with the college winning its third straight MACJC championship. Pearl River has won a record total of 18 state titles.
    “It’s a great honor, but I had a lot of help,” Oliver said. “Give my teammates a lot of credit. Every receiver on our team was great. They can all get open and our O-line did a tremendous job. All I had to do was find the open guy.”
    Oliver passed for 2,871 yards and 27 touchdowns in 2005's Hurricane  Katrina-shortened season, connecting of 195 of 351 passing attempts with 13 interceptions. Including his 339 rushing yards over PRCC’s nine-game season, he totaled a state and national best 3,150 yards (350 per game average) in individual total offense.
    In his only loss as the Wildcats’ starter — a 55-48 defeat to Mississippi Gulf Coast — Oliver shattered his own school record for passing yards in a game with 603 and accounted for 648 total yards in the defeat.
    Over his two-year career at Pearl River, Oliver passed for an astounding 6,308 yards and 67 touchdowns; while boasting 6,808 yards of individual total offense.
    “He’s magic,” says fourth-year Wildcat head coach Tim Hatten. “We call him Houdini. He makes plays that you can’t believe you’re seeing with your own eyes. Jimmy’s as good as it gets.”
    Oliver was instrumental in PRCC winning its first NJCAA national championship in over 40 years last season with a 34-14 victory over then-defending national champ Butler (Kan.) CC in the Dalton Defenders Bowl in Coffeyville, Kan.
    Pearl River was left out of the post-season bowl picture this past season, as invitations were sent out prior to the MACJC championship game. While the Dalton Defenders Bowl offered the Wildcats a return engagement to Coffeyville, Hatten and his staff felt accepting the offer would be premature.
    “We felt we were still in the national championship hunt,” Hatten said. “As it turned out, we got left out in the cold and didn’t get the opportunity to defend our national title. But that’s the way it goes.”
    Hatten calls Oliver a “perfect fit” for the Wildcats’ spread offense.
    “Jimmy fit perfectly into what we try to do offensively,” said Hatten. “And our offense was a perfect fit for him. With his ability to move around in the pocket plus his natural instincts, he’s just incredible. Once he starts moving around, you had better look out.”
    Oliver’s prep coach, Leslie Peters, hasn’t been surprised by Oliver’s success on the collegiate level.
    “Jimmy’s the best I’ve ever coached,” Peters said. “I can remember taking him to the Steve McNair seven-on-seven camp down at Perkinston heading into his senior year. There were a lot of great athletes down there, including a team from Texas. Their quarterback, Vincent Young, is the quarterback for the Texas Longhorns right now; but Jimmy was named most valuable player at that camp.
    “When the game is on the line, you want Jimmy Oliver on your side. He’s a winner with a heart as big as they get.”
    Peters coached Oliver from grade seven through 12 at East Marion, where he guided the Eagles to undefeated seasons in the seventh and eighth grades, while losing only one game his freshman season. He started all three of his varsity seasons at EMHS, guiding the Eagles into the playoffs each year and boasting 31 touchdowns passes as a senior.
    But that didn’t attract much attention from senior colleges.
    “Everybody in the country who saw him said he was too small (6-foot, 170 pounds),” Peters said. “I remember he visited Alcorn (State), but their coaches didn’t say too much to him. And he didn’t play in a single post-season all-star game after his senior year. Go figure that one out.”
O    liver also copped All-MACJC and All-Region 23 honors his freshman and sophomore seasons at PRCC. His most-recent accolade marked the third time in as many years that a Wildcat player earned a national “Player of the Year” honors.
    In 2003, first-team All-American defensive back-wide receiver Larry Kendrick was named the NJCAA’s “Defensive Player of the Year” and “Male Athlete of the Year.” Kendrick, who prepped under Hatten at Haines City (Fla.) High School, signed with the the University of Florida under then-head coach Steve Spurrier and played one season before transferring to PRCC. He just completed his senior season with the Ole Miss Rebels.