BYU Football Countdown: Player 57 – Tom Holmoe
By Adam Gibby
No. 57 Tom Holmoe – Defensive back – 1978-1982
Yes, the Athletic Director Tom Holmoe. If this ranking were to include events such NFL Career, coaching after leaving the program or being the Athletic Director then Holmoe would be ranked in the Top 20 on this list. However, since it is just looking back at the four years of eligibility as a college football player, Holmoe lands at No. 57.
Holmoe played during the same time as quite a few other players who have already been featured/will be on the list and Holmoe falls right in the middle of all of them. Holmoe was a key defensive player during the 1981 and 1982 seasons. During that time the Cougars were 21-6 overall, but more importantly set themselves up for the special 1983 and 1984 seasons.
During this time in BYU Football history, offense was everything. The defense was notoriously bad and that was part of BYU’s strategy, to score more points than the other team. But to do that, the Cougars needed at least SOME stops on defense, and Holmoe can be credited with quite a few of those.
Impact B
As mentioned before, Holmoe was on the defense, which meant he wasn’t at the “cool kids table” for BYU Football as far as fame goes. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a huge impact player however. Holmoe being a defensive end, was responsible for stopping multiple what would have been scoring plays down the field. This slowed offenses down and gave the BYU offense more time to rest. It is tough to know exactly how big his impact was as BYU was generally blowing out teams but I wouldn’t put it past the possibility of saying that Holmoe may have been responsible for a couple of wins for BYU.
Statistics B
The early 1980’s were still a time of primarily running the ball in college football. The pass was starting to become a staple for some teams, but the game was still played primarily on the ground. That said, Holmoe still managed to have 13 interceptions and and 18 pass break ups during his career. He also added 180 tackles, including 99 solo. While these stats may not match up extremely well to the best defensive backs in BYU history, for the time period, they were pretty elite in college football.
Memorable Moments C+
Again, if we were including everything, Holmoe would have an A+ with being able to schedule the tams he has and joining the WCC but looking back at his career, he was sort of a quite player who got his stats and did what he was supposed to do. His biggest highlight came against Washington State when he had a pick six that stretched the lead to 31-7 lead.