Last Saturday's game against a top 10 opponent felt an unlikely time to give true freshman safety Jevon Holland his first career start. Yet, Holland did just that, and based upon the final outcome, a 30-27 win over No. 7 Washington, the decision paid off.

Trusting a first-year collegiate athlete in a spot like that speaks volumes to how the staff views the former four-star recruit. A fact that is not lost on Holland — who finished with a career-best six tackles in the victory.

“I’m amazed at the opportunity my coaches have given me and how much trust they have in me at that position," he said following Wednesday's practice. "It’s felt good, but to get a first start, especially against Washington, it gave me pride and my family pride. It was exciting."

Whether it was Holland or sophomore Nick Pickett, who started the first five games of the season at safety, was not known until after last Thursday's practice. That's when co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Keith Heyward pulled the two aside and informed them that Holland would be making his first start of the season.

There were no hard feelings between the two, Holland said.

“He wants to see me shine," he said of Pickett. "I want to see him shine. It was a lot of support from both of us."

Holland doesn’t know if Saturday’s start, which came six games into his collegiate career, puts him ahead of or behind schedule of where he saw himself, because that’s not the measuring stick he set for the season.

“I didn’t really have a schedule for where I wanted to be,” he explained. “I just wanted to make sure that I helped the team. I knew that I was able to a big factor in coming at one nickel and being one of the first men in.”

As far as how he performed, Holland said it was a mixed bag. He awarded himself fairly high marks in coverage, but was critical of his tackling. He did appear to whiff on a few large Washington run plays, including both Salvon Ahmed's touchdown runs.

"I feel like I have a lot to improve on — definitely in tackling," he said. "People watching the game see that. I need to make sure that I come down more patiently and that I wrap up and secure the tackle. That’s the biggest thing, is making sure my tackling is OK."

But as he's still a freshman, getting the most out of him is not solely up to him, said fellow starting safety Ugo Amadi. Amadi believes he can play a role in improving Holland's play.

“He got his feet wet a little bit," Amadi said. "I was making sure that I was communicating with him all the time when I was out there. But, there’s always room to get better, even for myself being out there with him."

The expectation is that Holland will make start No. 2 this week in Pullman against No. 25 Washington State. It will be just the second time Holland has played on the road, but the only other road game went pretty good for the freshman from Oakland. In Berkeley last month, he picked off two passes in the team’s 42-24 win.

Head coach Mario Cristobal believes Holland will be ready again on this road trip.

“It’s still going to be about making sure that he understands exactly what we’re doing as it relates to what they’re doing,” he said Wednesday. “He’s one of our better players in the secondary, so hopefully he’ll see extensive action.”

A more prolific passing offense does not exist in the Pac-12 conference or in the country for that matter. The Cougars have attempted 54 more passes than Texas Tech, which ranks second nationally in pass attempts, and has gained 242 more yards than the Red Raiders this year. It’s an offense that averages more than 50 pass attempts a game this season.

“It’s exciting,” Holland said of facing the Cougar passing attack. “I haven’t faced an offense that throws the ball this much in my life actually. It’s exciting to test our ability as a secondary unit… It’s an extreme challenge.“