Kendrion Boatman has all the tools to play at the next level.
He certainly has the size at 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, but better yet he has the desire and intensity required to compete against the best.
That is what makes Boatman the final member of The Star-Herald’s Top 10 Players to Watch list for the 2018 football season.
“Boatman is a great kid,” McAdams coach Jim Risen said. “He has the intelligence. Boatman has got the intensity and could easily play on the next level because he has that desire and that heart.
“He set his goals years ago and that has transformed him into that player that could make that choice.”
Risen said he believes Boatman’s intensity is one of his best assets.
“He is an intense young man,” Risen said. “He was one of our leading tacklers from last year. He played a lot of defense and would then turn around and play offense. That’s tremendous, playing with that kind of intensity in the trenches. We have played him all over the defensive line.
“He will force a lot of double teams.”
Boatman will start on both sides of the line for the Bulldogs this season as they seek a second straight playoff appearance.
“This is a close team,” Boatman said. “This is a small school, so everybody knows everybody else. With us being close and playing like family, it can help us be more like a family.
“We have got to be more disciplined and take things more serious. It’s going to take a lot of hard work.
“That was the first time we had made the playoffs for the first time in like 30 years. This year, I want to make it all the way and try to win a state championship my senior year.”
Risen said Boatman is getting interest from several colleges and could be a sleeper, considering his size and speed.
“He is getting interest right now,” Risen said. “Ole Miss and (Mississippi) State have come down and talked to him. He has a lot of juco interest. Co-Lin’s coach has visited with him three times already. I think he has the body to play at the next level and he’s the prototypical guy in the trenches to move people. And he’s smart enough to adapt to anything that the opposing team might throw at him. He is a fundamentally sound football player.”
Another one of Boatman’s best assets is his work ethic, especially in the weight room.
“When I come to the weight room, I look to improve each and every day,” Boatman said. “I know I can’t do everything each and every day but I try to come to work every day and try to improve my strength each and every day.
“I want to get better and get ready for the season. I know that nobody is going to give me anything out there. I know the harder you work the harder it is to surrender.”
Boatman is also a standout in the classroom. Besides making straight As, he has already recorded a 20 on the ACT.
“I want to play football at the next level,” Boatman said. “I know that education is important because football isn’t going to last forever. I was thinking about majoring in either business or communications.”
When colleges do come calling, Risen knows exactly what he will say.
“I’m going to tell them that he can play and he can help them,” Risen said. “He has the size and has the speed and the heart, he has the passion and he has the hunger. It’s survival of the fittest.
“I tell them all the time, they will get you on campus. If you don’t do what they tell you to do, they will have your bags waiting on you. But you won’t even have to worry about Kendrion, he’ll do everything you ask.”
