By Joanna Chadwick

Rose Hill senior Noah Bolticoff grew a foot and put on 100 pounds from his eighth grade year to his freshman year.

Talk about a growth spurt.

“That was a big jump,” Bolticoff said. “I was definitely in a lot of pain. I had to rest a lot that summer because I was growing so much.”

Now 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, Bolticoff committed to play football at TCU in June. He had previously committed to play at Kansas State but decommitted once the TCU offer came.

Another huge change took place after his freshman season when he started working with Blaize Foltz, a Rose Hill alum who was a TCU lineman.

When the started working out, Bolticoff was about 6-foot, 210 pounds. He also had little knowledge of how to be an excellent lineman.

“In my freshman year, I had no idea of anything technique or form,” Bolticoff said. “I had never played football where I’d been coached to train specifically for a position. (Foltz) taught me how to take my steps, where to hit, every little thing about the position.”

Foltz added: “He was very awkward, very non-athletic. He hadn’t grown into his body yet. He had no idea how to use his muscles and he didn’t know much about football.”

They focused on speed, using the muscles that already existed, stayed flexible. And they worked on the diet, pushing him to get 5,000 calories a day.

“We did a whole lot of muscle focus workouts,” Foltz said. “He lifted with me through most of those workouts, so I was pushing him hard. He’s a competitor, so he’s competing with me while we’re lifting. He set the tone that we will work our tails off.”

By Bolticoff’s junior season, it all started to click.

“Everything that Blaize taught me, all the time in the summer we spent working, it started to pay dividends,” Bolticoff said. “It’s crazy to play a sport and then enjoy the sport because you’re good at it…. I was playing on a different level.

“… I just really started making leaps and bounds with my training. My athleticism started coming together with all the work we had been putting in. That’s when I realized I might be able to play a higher level, in college.”

Foltz said Bolticoff showed vastly improved skills.

“Because he didn’t know anything about football when I met him, I just spent time coaching him up,” Foltz said. “He took small steps and we went through progressions as he grew up. He grew into his body, maturing. He spent a lot of time, a lot of hours, and no one else saw.

“But he wanted to do it.”

Some of the keys for Bolticoff are his athletic ability, flexibilty and his mentality. He’s focused, which will help him as he works to be a cardiologist.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s gifted and has the size.

“He’s a combination of everything, including the person he is,” Foltz said. “When I talked to coaches about him, they wanted to know his intangibles. He’s looking at alignments from linebackers to safeties. He calls out the reads. He’s a student of the game — and he has the physicality.”