Even playing out of position, Borah senior is named the state’s best football player
Austin Bolt never had played quarterback until this fall. But that didn’t slow him and the Borah High football team down.
The 6-4, 215-pound senior took the state by storm as a one-man wrecking crew. And on Friday, he was named the 2019 Gatorade Idaho Football Player of the Year, an award for the state’s top football player regardless of classification.
“I can honestly say I’ve never seen a kid more dominant in this state than Austin Bolt,” Timberline coach Ian Smart said in a news release. “He’s a great competitor. And as a coach, he required you to account for him in all three phases of the game, because he did everything tremendously well.”
The converted wide receiver did it all for the Lions, rarely leaving the field. He played quarterback and safety. He returned punts and kickoffs. He even was the punter and held for the Lions’ placekickers.
He racked up 2,771 yards of offense and 36 TDs, running for 1,391 yards and 26 TDs and adding 1,380 yards and 10 TDs through the air while completing 69 percent of his passes. He made 62 tackles and intercepted four passes. And he returned a pair of kickoffs for touchdowns, averaging 33.8 yards per kick return.
“He was our entire offense, and everyone knew it,” Borah coach Jason Burton said. “And he still put up ridiculous numbers.”
Bolt led Borah to a 7-3 record and the 5A quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
The unanimous player of the year in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference has scholarship offers from six Division I programs, including Boise State and Utah State. But he has yet to decide on his college future.
He is the first all-class player of the year from Borah since offensive tackle Jim Pantner in 1985, the first season of the Gatorade awards.
Other recent players of the year include Declo’s Keegan Duncan (2018), Highland’s Tommy Togiai (2017), Coeur d’Alene’s Colson Yankoff (2016), Mountain View’s TreyTon Bell (2015) and Highland’s Tristen Hoge (2014).
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 1:12 PM.
