Maryland's Stocked Fridge: No. 62 Conrad Bolston

Another quietly solid player, Conrad Bolston, checks in next on the rundown of the top 66 Maryland football players of the last nine years.

Bolston was a three-year starter, getting the nod at either defensive tackle or nose tackle in 30 games between 2004 and 2006. The first two seasons in that stretch weren't particularly stellar for the Terrapins, and as a result Bolston's contributions are sometimes overlooked.

Nonetheless, usually when a linebacker rolls up the totals D'Qwell Jackson did in 2004 and 2005, there's a plugger in the middle helping to funnel a ballcarrier toward a tackle machine. Such was the case with Bolston, whose career numbers (107 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 10 sacks) compare favorably to a few other tackles that slipped onto the list.

Bolston was steady, and switched positions at the start of the 2006 season (and again midway through it) as Maryland tried to find the right mix up front en route to a Champs Sports Bowl appearance.

(Neither of these things impacts this ranking, but both should be noted. Bolston earned a cameo in the NFL, an indication he was probably better than his numbers suggested.

Far more significantly, even though a cancer diagnosis ended his career, he returned to Maryland after having the tumor removed to wrap up his degree. According to Maryland's department of government and politics, Bolston recently accepted an offer to attend Georgetown's law school.)

Bolston was Maryland's most consistent defensive lineman in his final two seasons. That might not have been recognized considering the ease with which many opponents torched the Terps on the perimeter at times both years, but Bolston authored a solid career in the middle of the last decade.

Comments

[ckstevenson]

I know you're only 4 deep into this cool list, I'm really excited for it, any chance there is a "recency bias" about the non top 15 or so players? Seems like it'd be really hard for you to pick non stars from the 50s thru the 70s or so.

[D1scourse]

Ckstevenson ---

This is just a rundown of the Friedgen era (2001-2009), so everything is about the recent past.

[ckstevenson]

I'm stupid, really stupid. DUH. My bad.

[D1scourse]

Ckstevenson ---

No worries. Id guess no more than 10 of the players on this list would count among the programs 66 best ever. The fact Id struggle to ID good linemen from earlier eras makes it impossible for me to do a semi-accurate list  of this size to cover Marylands entire football history.