Local high school football star — and future Boise State Bronco — shines in all-star game
One of Boise State’s 2020 recruits ended his high school football career on a high note Monday at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Borah High’s Austin Bolt caught three touchdown passes, including the game-winner in overtime, at the annual Blue-Grey All-America Bowl, and he was named the game’s Offensive MVP.
In overtime, Bolt caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Gunnar Gray to lift the West to a 37-30 victory over the East. Bolt also scored on passes of 12 and 37 yards.
Despite playing out of position this fall at quarterback, Bolt was named the 2019 Gatorade Idaho Player of the Year after leading Borah to a 7-3 record and the 5A state quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder finished the season with 2,771 yards of offense and 36 total touchdowns, running for 1,391 yards and 26 scores and adding 1,380 yards and 10 touchdowns through the air. As a safety, he finished the season with 62 tackles and four interceptions. He also returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.
Bolt is a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports, and the No. 3 2020 prospect in Idaho, behind Middleton offensive lineman Gaard Memmelaar — a Washington commit — and Tanoa Togiai, a defensive end from Rigby who has yet to commit. Bolt was one of two tight ends Boise State signed on early signing day. The other was Russell Corrigan, a three-star recruit from Minnesota.
Broncos lose 2020 DT recruit
Boise State lost its second 2020 recruit in less than a week Wednesday when defensive tackle Nick Booker-Brown announced on Twitter that he has re-opened his recruitment.
Booker-Brown verbally committed in October 2019 but was one of two recruits who didn’t sign on early signing day, joining wide receiver Chance Luper, who announced last Thursday that his commitment was once again open.
The 6-1, 250-pounder from Westfield High School in Houston, Texas, is a three-star recruit, according to 247Sports and the No. 99 ranked defensive tackle in the 2020 class. His older brother, Josh, is a linebacker at Boise State, who transferred in from Pearl River Community College and redshirted in 2019 but was named the Broncos’ Defensive Scout Team Player of the Year.
Boise State’s 2020 class still includes defensive tackles Herbert Gums and Divine Obichere — a JUCO transfer — defensive end Robert Cooper and STUD Shane Irwin, who played at Long Beach City College with Obichere.
Locals in all-star games
Boise State’s top deep threat in 2019, wide receiver John Hightower, was back on the field Saturday for the East-West Shrine Bowl at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Hightower was one of 10 receivers to record at least one reception for the West team, which lost 31-27. Hightower finished with two catches for 24 yards, and kept busy on special teams, returning one kickoff for 16 yards and getting a shot at two punts, both of which he fair caught.
Hightower led the Broncos last season with 943 yards and eight touchdowns through the air, and he was second with 51 receptions. The 6-foot-2, 172-pounder from Landover, Maryland, also ranked No. 3 in the Mountain West with 24.6 yards per kick return.
A pair of offensive linemen who played their college ball in Idaho were also in action over the weekend. Boise State guard John Molchon and College of Idaho left tackle Josh Brown took the field for the NFLPA Bowl at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, but they were on opposite sides.
Molchon was on the National team, which won 30-20. He didn’t start, but he did see snaps. The 6-foot-5, 318-pound Las Vegas native started 42 games during his Boise State career, mostly at guard, and he was a three-time All-Mountain West pick. He made the first-team cut as a junior and senior.
Brown started at left tackle for the American Team and played well into the second quarter. After spending a redshirt year at Division II Western Oregon, Brown started 45 straight games for College of Idaho, which made it to the quarterfinals of the NAIA playoffs last season.
Broncos Hula Bowl bound
Another group of former Boise State players will be in action Sunday in the Hula Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
Defensive linemen David Moa and Sonatane Lui, safety Kekoa Nawahine and tight end Garrett Collingham are in Hawaii for four days of practice leading up to the game.
Nawahine finished second on the team last season with 68 tackles and intercepted his third pass of the year in the Mountain West title game against Hawaii. Moa finished the year with 37 tackles (6.5 for loss), and his only sack of the season was on a crucial third down late in Boise State’s win at Colorado State.
Lui continuously found ways to be around the ball at the end the of the season. He scooped up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage in the Broncos’ win over New Mexico, and he racked up five tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble to earn defensive MVP honors in the conference championship game. He missed the Las Vegas Bowl for personal reasons.
Collingham — a former quarterback at Mountain View High — scored four touchdowns as a senior, three receiving and one rushing. He scored twice in the Broncos’ regular-season finale at Colorado State when he found the end zone on a 2-yard run and a 3-yard reception.
Rausa signs with Defenders
Former Boise State kicker Tyler Rausa is heading across the country to kick for the XFL’s Washington D.C. Defenders. The team announced his signing Tuesday afternoon on Twitter.
After transferring to Boise State in 2013 from Riverdale Community College, Rausa was a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award in 2015 after he set the program’s single-season record with 25 field goals. He was on the watch list again the following year as a senior and went 9-for-13 on field goals and 58-for-58 on extra points.
This year marks WWE owner Vince McMahon’s second attempt at launching the XFL, which also ran for a single season in 2001. The league consists of eight teams splits into two divisions — east and west — with other franchises in New York, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle.
Games begin Feb. 8 and culminate April 26 with the league championship, which will be broadcast on ESPN.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 9:48 AM.
