EB’s Bostain chooses L-R as next stop for football

East Burke senior lineman Brady Bostain is a 6-foot-2, 290-pound beast on the football field.

But in a theme perhaps fitting for Valentine’s Day, the Cavaliers’ “Big Red” on Wednesday in an on-campus signing ceremony chose a different shade of red at nearby Lenoir-Rhyne University for his next destination in the sport.

Bostain chose to play for L-R starting this fall over NCAA Division I FBS preferred walk-on offers from N.C. State and Charlotte as well as offers to play at D-III programs Greensboro and Averett (Va.).

Bostain said he visited the Hickory campus a few weeks ago before head coach Mike Jacobs left for the Mercer job after a 13-win season that tied a program record as the Bears won their first-ever road NCAA Division II playoff game and advanced to the national semifinals following a South Atlantic Conference title.

Doug Soucha was named Jacobs’ replacement at L-R on Jan. 29 after he guided Keiser University (Fla.) to a 55-15 record in six seasons and the 2023 NAIA national championship. 

“Even though they left, I still just believed in the coaching staff they brought in, and I felt like it was the best choice for me,” said Bostain, who noted another selling point was “being close to home and being close to my family where it was easy to come see me play.” 

“But I just loved L-R,” he added. “For the past three years, I’ve always wanted to go there. I thought the school was great. And I thought what the new coaches brought in, just that effort to continue to win here and them having a record of winning in the past, I loved it.” 

As a senior this past fall, Bostain was named to the All-Burke County and All-Catawba Valley 2A Conference teams, earning the county defensive player of the year award and finishing runner-up in the coaches’ voting for CVAC defensive player of the year. 

He posted 2023 totals of 60 tackles (40 solo), including county-high totals of 23 tackles for loss including six sacks to finish his career with 40 career tackles for loss including 13 sacks.

Bostain also had two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and three blocked kicks and had five stops in the backfield against both Freedom and Newton-Conover this season. Along the offensive line, Bostain added three pancake blocks as the Cavaliers set a program-record for rushing yards in a season and topped rival Freedom for the first time in 14 years.

“He doesn’t talk a whole lot, but he’s probably one of the nicest kids you’ll ever meet,” said Cavaliers head coach Derrick Minor. “He doesn’t overstep his bounds. I don’t think he realizes how big he really is. He’s a gentle giant, just a kind-hearted kid who will do anything you ask him to do. He leads by example. And when he gets out on the field, he gets fired up. 

“He can shut it down, I mean he really can. For us, he could single-handedly shut down a whole half of a line and make offenses go the other direction. That’s huge.”

Bostain, who also plays basketball and participates in track and field at East Burke, said he fell in love with football at a young age while attending Ray Childers Elementary School.

“I was probably about 7 years old, and I remember I just looked down at the field and saw everybody playing, and I was like, ‘I gotta try that,’” he recalls.

Bostain then attended East Burke Middle before a freshman season at EBHS in which he eight-quartered before playing the final week of that spring 2021 COVID-abbreviated year exclusively on Friday night with the varsity squad. He has been a Cavaliers’ three-year starter since.

Bostain said in addition to beating Freedom, beating the school’s other chief rival, Draughn, to hand the Wildcats one of only two losses in 2022 was also among his top memories as an East Burke football player.

“Coach Minor, Coach Matt (Childers), and all the coaching staff here, they’ve all helped me out (in terms of) being a good person, helping the community, and always fighting through adversity,” Bostain said. 

“I think (I’ll most remember) the relationships with friends, all of the memories we made celebrating when we won those games, the hard work, and all the culture lessons building toward being good people.”

Bostain said he plans to major in sports management and nutrition.

“I’m excited for him to be able to get this opportunity, and I hope he gets out there and competes and gets a shot,” Minor said. “And to be able to stay local. We’ve had the Childers brothers go to L-R, I coached Tate Beaver (at Foard) who went to L-R.

“It’s always good because you can go and still support them. You can show up in Hickory on a Saturday afternoon and go cheer them on but also check in on them and still have that connection. It can be an open door if he needs anything. We’re literally 15 minutes away. But Charlotte, N.C. State, L-R, we would support him no matter what he decided.” 

Paul Schenkel can be reached at 828-445-8595 or paul@thepaper.media.