In a rare occurrence for any level of football, junior college offensive lineman Garett Bolles was named the Offensive Player of the Year of the Western States Football League on Wednesday.
Bolles, 6-5, 303 pounds, 4.87 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Snow College in Utah, is a major target of Arkansas and is regarded as the best offensive lineman to come out of junior college in recent memory. He has more than 25 scholarship offers, including ones from Arkansas, Michigan State, Oregon, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Arizona State.
"It's obviously not common. It might be the first time in this conference," Snow College offensive line coach Rafe Maughan said of Bolles' award.
"Anytime an O-lineman gets that type of award, you're going to be shocked by it. When I heard his name was going to be thrown in, I agreed with it. I said, 'Yeah, he definitely impacted the game in every rep on offense.' "
Bolles, who plans to graduate in May, plans to major in social work, minor in criminal justice and hopes to formed a foundation to help troubled teens.
Maughan said Bolles' dominating play has earned him the respect of his opponents.
"Everybody we've played have said. 'We hate playing him,' " Maughan said. "But it's going to be nice watching him on Sundays. He just plays with a level of intensity that's really impressive to watch."
Bolles will wrap up an official visit to Michigan State today. He plans to visit Oregon next weekend and the Razorbacks for the Missouri game Nov. 27.
"He has Arkansas mapped out and he's got Oregon as well," Maughan said of Bolles' official visits. "I think Georgia is planned for January and there might be one more."
In July, Bolles named Arkansas, Arizona State, Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia, Oregon and Utah as his top schools. A recent scholarship offer from Michigan State has put it into the race.
It doesn't appear Arizona State or Utah will get an official visit.
"He feels like he has a pretty good grasp [on Arizona State]," Maughan said. "He's been down there quite a bit. Utah is obviously in our backyard, so he's been there a lot."
Bolles and his fiancee, Natalie Williams, plan to get married Dec. 12. Being a highly recruited can be overwhelming for a recruit, but Bolles avoided that by cutting his lists during the summer.
"It was pretty wild leading into the summer and he did a good job or narrowing it down to the schools he's really interested in," Maughan said. "So that's really kept the season really mellow."
Probably the most impressive part of Bolles' success is he's only played on the offensive line for two seasons. He reported to Snow College at about 270 pounds after playing linebacker and defensive end at Lehi (Utah) Westlake High School.
Bolles opened eyes with his play as a freshman at Snow and has continued to make strong strides this season.
"I think you see him a lot more comfortable with the position," Maughan said. "His fundamentals are a lot more fluid. He still has room to grow, which is great for whoever gets him. You can see he's a lot more comfortable and just fundamentals along with his overall vision. Every play now he looks at the right stuff and he's just kind of got a maturity from a standpoint of a tackle."
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and offensive line coach Sam Pittman visited Snow College during Arkansas' bye week in October. Bielema and Pittman have coached a combined 26 offensive linemen who were drafted into the NFL.
Maughan said Bolles is fond of Bielema and Pittman.
"He loves the relationship he's built with Coach Pittman and Coach Bielema," Maughan said. "Their personalities definitely fit well with Garett in the discussions we've had. I think they're down-to-earth guys that would do well with Garett."
"Garett is kind of more of the blue collar guy, and I think that's what they are. So in choosing a school, that's a big part of what he's looking for and they've done a great job in developing that relationship with him."
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 11/15/2015