Even though he was only a Ute for one season, offensive lineman Garett Bolles wants to do his best to represent the University of Utah as he pursues his NFL career.
Bolles is expected to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft and nearly every single NFL team sent a scout to Salt Lake City to watch what Bolles can do on the field. He has only been playing football for a short time, and he hasn’t ever suffered an injury, so Bolles wants to make sure that organizations potentially eyeing him know there won’t be any sort of liability when it comes to his play or his effort.
“I’ve only played football for three years,” Bolles said. “I don’t have any wear and tear on my body, and that’s what I want people to know. I have so much upside and so much growth. I just continue to work every single day.”
Before he came to the U, Bolles was playing football at Snow College and was a highly sought after junior college player. He was even given a five-star rating on scout.com as he was named the No. 1 junior college prospect. He made plenty of noise in the lone season he had at Utah and he was named to the All-Pac-12 first team.
Fans could tell he was one of the most hyped players to on the field and his teammates took note. Junior starting quarterback Troy Williams even mentioned that there were plenty of times when Bolles approached him after a play to tell him how well he had done. After Bolles made a tackle, he would run up to Williams, and he would excitedly ask, “Did you see that hit?”
While Williams wasn’t always able to see the hit, he told him he did, because he appreciated what Bolles did for him. It’s that same effort and excitement he had on the field that Bolles is trying to replicate when he meets with varying NFL teams.
During Utah’s 2017 Pro Day, Bolles did not participate in a few of the events, most likely so that he would not hurt any numbers he had put up at the NFL Combine, but plenty of scouts were in attendance to see him participate in agility-type drills and he thinks he has been doing enough to impress them. At the same time, he understands that whether or not his name rises, falls or remains the same in the draft, he’s experiencing something special.
While Bolles isn’t sure when his name will be called or even which team is going to call his name, he’s mainly just excited to get going, so he’ll be happy to play wherever. In addition to putting the U in the spotlight, he hopes to make his family proud too.
“It’s a blessing and the good Lord upstairs is taking very good care of me and has blessed me with a physical body, a very healthy body also,” Bolles said. “I just continue to make this school proud. This school has done amazing things for me, my junior college, Snow College, and my family and my beautiful wife and son.”
@kbrenneisen