When he isn’t playing football, Denver Broncos and former University of Utah offensive lineman Garett Bolles participates in regular mentorship visits at youth probation courts and detention facilities in the Denver area.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound left tackle has mentored more than 100 youth as they navigate the juvenile justice system in Arapahoe County, Colorado.
Bolles himself was once a troubled youth and is familiar with the juvenile justice system.
During a recent visit, Bolles was surprised with the news that he has been nominated for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year, considered to be the league’s most prestigious honor that is given annually to an NFL player who is making a valuable difference in his community.
“It means the world to me,” Bolles said in a video. “I do this because I genuinely love and care for these kids. I know they said that I help them, but they help me. They give me that fight every single day to go out there on the football field and to live my dream.”
Bolles was one of 32 nominees — one from each NFL team — announced by the league on Dec. 5. All 32 nominees will receive recognition for their achievements during the week leading up to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner will be announced during NFL Honors, a prime-time awards special to air nationally on CBS on Thursday, Feb. 8, according to a news release.
Who is Garett Bolles?
Trouble — which involved jail time, addictions and poor grades — kept Bolles off the football field for some of his high school years. A turning point came at age 18, when he went to work for a garage door company owned by Greg and Emily Belle Freeman. The Freemans opened their home to Bolles as long as he followed their rules, he said in 2016 Deseret News article.
“They ... gave me a job and a place to stay,” Bolles said in the article. “They’re great people, and they changed my life around and gave me an opportunity.”
Emily Belle Freeman was called to serve as the Church’s Young Women general president earlier this year. “One of the most remarkable things about Garett is how he uses his story to bless the lives of others,” she said. “It is the quiet work he does in the background moments of his life. It is sitting in the car recording an uplifting video to send to a youth who is leaving juvenile detention and entering into real life again. It is the moments when he sits with a struggling youth to tell them ‘I have walked in your shoes, and I made conscious decisions to change my life, and you can too.’ Garett uses his story to bless the lives of youth who need a second chance. He believes in them. He is a champion of encouraging them to surround themselves with a team who will help them move past their current negative choices and live their dream.”
After a couple of years working and finding hope and strength through his faith in Jesus Christ, Bolles served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Colorado.
“I grew a lot on my mission, but maturing over time and putting the Lord first has blessed me dramatically,” he told the Deseret News. “Absolutely my mission was the best thing for me. It really set the foundation to make me the man I am today.”
Following his mission, Bolles was a standout player at Snow College and the University of Utah.
He was selected by Denver with the No. 20 overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft and in the last seven years has developed into an All-Pro offensive lineman.
“I’m beyond grateful. I’m beyond honored to be in this situation where I’m at right now,” he said in the video. “You ask me 12 years ago where I would be, I wouldn’t tell you I would be here. ... There are just so many people in my corner that have loved me and never given up on me, that showed me what I need to do, that have loved me and cared for me. I just take exactly the same steps that they [used] to help me and I want to share that with as many kids as I can.”
