In a town one-fourth the size of Lawrence, word spreads furiously when a homegrown son enjoys even minimal success.

For James Holt, it didn’t take much: just an assurance that he’d play college football right away.

A freshman out of Altus, Okla., Holt met with the Kansas University coaching staff a week before the Jayhawks played Florida Atlantic to open the season. Then, he was told that he and tight end Russell Brorsen would be the only two out of their recruiting class to play immediately as true freshmen.

Great news. Even greater gossip.

“I was excited,” Holt said. “I called back home and told them all the good news. Before long, everyone in the town knew, so they were all calling.”

Holt and Brorsen perhaps had Saturday’s 6 p.m. game with Oklahoma at Arrowhead Stadium circled on the calendar ever since learning they’d be playing in it.

Shoot, it has been only a few months since prom; now the two will be walking out the tunnel of an NFL stadium, with 50,000-plus fans cheering them on as their team prepares to lock horns with the Sooners, who spent the last two years dominating college football in the freshmen’s back yard.

“I’m excited about getting to play them,” said Brorsen, a native of Stillwater, Okla., “but it’s a big game for Kansas, too.”

Brorsen took an untraditional – and unexpected – road to the playing field. Recruited as a defensive end, the KU coaching staff was impressed with Brorsen’s athleticism and ability to pick things up quickly and moved him to tight end, a position lacking game-ready talent behind starter Derek Fine.

Brorsen, who never played tight end before, now regularly plays in two tight-end sets and contributes on special teams, as well.

“It’s just the speed of the game in general,” Brorsen said, asked about the biggest change from high school. “I’m used to being on the other side of the ball. You have those guys coming at you twice as fast as they were in high school. It’s a big adjustment.”

Holt has registered four tackles in the first five games playing on three special teams. He also has played sparingly in nickel packages in the defensive secondary.

Like Brorsen, the decision to pass on red-shirting Holt is one coach Mark Mangino is glad he did – and it creates an interesting subplot for Saturday’s clash.

“He’s doing very well,” KU coach Mark Mangino said of Holt. “He’s very explosive. He absorbs things right away from the mental aspect of the game, and he’s going to be a real fine player for us.”