The Biggest Saint

In his weekly recruiting column catches up with Shiloh Christian junior offensive lineman Travis Bodenstein (6-4, 300), who is getting interest from Arkansas and several other schools. This story is free and sponsored by the Arkansas Toyota Dealers. Click on the Arkansas Toyota banner.

It’s intriguing that one of Shiloh Christian’s most overlooked Division I prospects is actually its biggest.

Such is the life of an offensive lineman when it comes to fans, but there are certainly plenty of college head coach with an interest in junior standout Travis Bodenstein (6-4, 300).

“I am talking to LSU, Auburn, Arkansas and Oklahoma,” Bodenstein said. “I’ve also got some letters from Tennessee and Oklahoma State and it is going good.”

He participated in an Arkansas camp in July and got a chance to work with Razorback offensive line coach Mike Summers.

“I like Arkansas a lot,” Bodenstein said. “I like the coaches a lot. I like Coach Summers and think he is a good coach. They have nice facilities.”

Bodenstein led the way Monday night as the Saints dominated Fayetteville to the tune of 42-23 in a preseason scrimmage.

It was 35-3 at halftime as Shiloh scored on its first five possessions in a convincing victory.

“We came in prepared,” Bodenstein said. “We spent all last week during board work, getting our plays down and practicing for the 4-2 and 4-1 (defenses) that they run.

“I think we came out confident, played hard and pretty much dominated them,” Bodenstein added. It was the third of three match-ups between the two teams this summer, albeit the first real football one where the teams were all padded up instead of playing 7-on-7.

The squads had split the 7-on-7 contests with Fayetteville winning the last one on a last-second touchdown pass.

“We prepared for this game all summer,” Bodenstein said. “We saw our guys beaten in 7-on-7 and that kind of made the game a little bit more touchy - I guess you could say. It was good.”

Bodenstein sized up his strengths and weaknesses.

“I feel good where I am at right now,” Bodenstien said. “I think I need to lose a little weight maybe and get a little faster. But my strength is that I am happy with my strength right now.”

Shiloh Christian now turns its attention to a rematch with Shreveport Evangel a week from Thursday.

It will be a rematch of the Saints’ 47-9 loss in Louisiana last season – the only blemish on a 13-1 mark that led to a state championship.

“We are ready to get at them again,” Bodenstein said. “I don’t think we really understood that level of football yet. I think we are better this year than last year. I think we are coming in more prepared and ready to get it on with Evangel again.

O o o

Tidbits:

…Little Rock Christian tailback Michael Dyer has decided to wait and take some official visits before making a decision.

Those visits will likely come from this list, one he gave after an unofficial trip to Ole Miss this past weekend with teammates Dakota Mosley and Jessie Stone.

“Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Oregon, Vanderbilt,” Dyer told Scout.com.

…The Arkansas basketball program has set up two official visitors for the first home football weekend in September.

Both 6-10, 205-pound center Eric Buckner of Gulf Coast (Fla.) Community College and 6-4, 200-pound shooting guard Rickey Scott of Irving (Texas) MacArthur have set up official visits that weekend.

There is a possibility for others to be set up for that weekend as the only home football dates in the next two months are on Sept. 19, Oct. 10 and Oct. 31.





Travis Bodenstein