The Recruiting of Jerrel Bolton

Jerrel Bolton played tight end for the Longhorns in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he is the only Granbury High School graduate to win a letter playing football for the Horns.

The photos below are Granbury High School’s 1966 Class 2A state finalist football team. Future Texas Longhorn Jerrel Bolton is the fourth man from the right on the top row, wearing #85.

In the photo above, Jerrel Bolton #85 was a blocking tight end and the team’s kicker. This photo was published in the 1967 Pirate yearbook. Jerrel is #85 in the front row.

In 1967, he was named to the all-district football team on both offense and defense.

In 1967 and 1968 he started for the district champion basketball team.

In December 1976, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram named Bolton (at linebacker) to its Class 2A all-state team,

On February 13, 1968, Coach Royal signed Jerrel to a letter of intent in an atmosphere buzzing with excitement, flying into the municipal airport to secure Jerrel’s signature.

Above photo Jerrel Bolton signs a letter of intent to attend the University of Texas with his parents in the background and Texas Longhorns head coach Darrell Royal on the left.

In February 1968, news articles on college football signings listed Bolton as a linebacker. Of the Longhorn signees was Leon O’Neal from Killeen, who became the first black student-athlete to receive a football scholarship from Texas.

Before enrolling at Texas, he played in the 34th annual Texas High School All-Star game. Bolton started at linebacker for the North team and also served as its kicker. Bolton kicked the extra points following both touchdowns and made a 23-yard field goal in the 4th quarter.

Later that month he played for the Texas squad in the annual Oil Bowl, a charity all-star game that pitted recent high school graduates from Texas against a team of stars from Oklahoma. Bolton started at defensive guard for the Texas team, which won 39-7 before a crowd of 18,000 spectators in Wichita Falls.²³

Bolton was a starter on the Longhorn freshman team at offensive guard and a backup at linebacker. He began the spring of 1969 as an offensive guard, then was shifted to linebacker, and finally moved back to right guard.

By the spring of 1970, Bolton was back at the tight end position, but he suffered an injury to his knee during Spring drills. Bolton began 1970 fall practices as a backup offensive tackle and third-string tight end

Longhorn historian Jonathan Wells says, “Bolton recorded his first collegiate reception in the season-opening 56-15 win over California. Three weeks later he appeared in the annual rivalry game against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl and recovered a fumble by Oklahoma’s punt returner late in the 4th quarter, which gave Texas the ball at the OU 7-yard line. A Longhorn touchdown run with 21 seconds left sent the Sooners home with a 41-9 loss. He later made two catches for a gain of 54 yards in UT’s 52-14 Thanksgiving Day win over Texas A&M.”

Jerrel Bolton was awarded two letters for the part he played in the 1969 and 1970 seasons.

The Longhorn coaches moved him to offensive tackle during spring practices in 1971. Depth charts published during different weeks in the 1971 season listed Bolton as a backup at tight end or left tackle. He received his second letter in 1971.

Below are some photos of Jerrel’s Longhorn letterman events at his ranch, many years after our playing days. The first photo: Jerrel is in the top row, far right. Second photo: Mac McKinney, Cotton Speyrer, and Jerrel Bolton. Third photo: Billy Dale, Julius Whittier, Jerrell Bolton, ???, Mike Campbell, and Ted Koy.