Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/847744
U P C L O S E & P E R S O N A L Commitment to PSU lifts burden from Bolds I t was only 5ve days until the New Jersey state championship, conceivably the biggest game to that point in his life, and Corey Bolds was sitting in a doctor's of- 5ce. A7er 5ghting a nasty cold that just wouldn't go away, Bolds had been diag- nosed with pneumonia. The recommenda- tion was that he avoid physical activity for two weeks in order to allow his lungs to clear up. So when Paramus Catholic's showdown against St. Peter's Prep rolled around the following Friday evening in De- cember, where was the Paladins' star de- fensive lineman? Was he bundled up on the sideline? Did he stay in the locker room? No, he was in the starting lineup. He re- turned to practice in time for Thursday's walk-through, and then in Paramus Catholic's 33-28 win in the NJSIAA – Non-Public Group 4 title game, Bolds was a force. But, echoing how his recruitment played out, his performance didn't come without a cost. "I'm running around 100 percent to the ball trying to get to it, [but] a7er the 5rst pair of series I came o6 to the sideline, I was throwing up," Bolds said. "They had blankets on me and stu6 like that. It de5- nitely wasn't a good feeling, but I got used to it." It was one of many heroic e6orts from Bolds, a team captain, throughout his time at Paramus Catholic. With his eight tackles in the championship game, he helped his team 5nish the season with a 10-2 record as a senior. Bolds began his career at defensive end, but as he grew older and larger he would slide down to a three-technique defensive tackle spot in certain situations. Now that he's at Penn State, he's focusing primarily on the inside position. He weighed 282 pounds as of May and is continuing to bulk up to handle the load at DT for the Nittany Lions. But the opportunity to pair Bolds with PSU almost never came. "I 5nished high school with 21 o6ers, so basically every o6er I got I looked into it because I wasn't sure," he said. "I never had my mind set on the process. I wanted to see my options, but no one is going to visit 21 schools, so you have to talk to coaches. You have to get a feel for coaches and build relationships. My advice for all recruits is to commit and jump on board with your school once you feel it, because there were a couple times in my recruit- ment where I felt [it was evident] where I wanted to be but I didn't let the trigger go, so it just prolonged the recruiting process and just made it more stressful. "Other than that, it's a blessing to go through the recruiting process. Other people are not privileged enough to get o6ers from Power Five schools, but other than that, the hardest thing is just 5nally deciding where you want to be. The other thing is, you can't listen to other people. You have to do what you want." At times during Bolds' recruitment, it appeared as though Alabama was his leader. Then Michigan. Then Clemson. They had all o6ered at one point or an- other, but because Bolds was reluctant to verbally commit and seldom made on- campus visits, schools began going with other candidates. By his senior year, his options had dwindled to just a few. In need of defensive tackles for its Class of 2017, Penn State was one of the schools that continued its pursuit. The coaches had extended an o6er in the winter fol- lowing his junior season, and although their interest wasn't enthusiastically or promptly reciprocated, they maintained an open line of communication. Included in the conversations were re- minders aimed at keeping Bolds focused on his classwork. As a freshman and sophomore, he had fallen behind with his grades. "I was kind of a knucklehead," he admitted. That inattentiveness had forced Bolds to play catch-up throughout the latter portion of his high school career. He began to take his studies more seriously when he realized that they could poten- tially impact his college recruitment. By the end of his senior year, he had recorded | THE BOLDS FILE STATS Finished with 79 tackles, including four tack- les for loss, as a senior... Helped Paramus Catholic fin- ish No. 1 in New Jersey and No. 36 nationally last season, making eight tackles in the championshp game vs. St. Peter's Prep... Was a four-year letterman and team captain as a senior HONORS Named a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, as well as the No. 46 defensive tackle nationally and No. 18 prospect in New Jersey... Received third-team All- State recognition from N.J.com... First-team All-North Jersey defensive honors from NorthJersey.com CLICK HERE to see video of Bolds in action. Rivals.com