Syracuse Strong: Press Coverage with QB Jason Boltus

Over the last decade, Jason Boltus has gained some worldly experience, but always at his core, he knew that he wanted to return home to finish his football career.

"“Yeah, family is forever. I’m here to spend time with my family, you never get that time back. I spent six years in Florida and we had a great time and great weather, but the family was so far away and I only got to see them a few times. Especially when the little one was born, I just wanted to be closer to home.”"

But just because Jason always wanted to return home, that didn’t mean that a partnership with the Syracuse Strong was a guarantee. As a matter of fact, Team President Khalid Bey shared that the team had been attempting to recruit Jason since he stopped playing football in the Indoor Football League back in 2017 but to no avail.

But finally, in 2019, Jason decided to attend the Syracuse Strong open tryouts at the end of March here’s more from his perspective:

"“Yeah, ultimately I’ve stayed in touch with several guys on the team, I played flag football with a few of them and have played against them. They would mention it and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play again so they got me to tryouts back in March and I was throwing the ball to some of these receivers and I said I think I still got this, let me give this a shot. So these guys have been great, very welcoming, and obviously, they already have a great team, so there are high expectations and we want to repeat this year.”"

But that’s the crazy thing, the Strong was already really good last year, so what is Jason going to add to this mix?

"“They’re (the Strong) so experienced and have played in tough games and they know how to win playing at that level. Hopefully, I can just do my 1/11th and do my part and achieve the same success from last year and add some.”"

Jason throughout our conversation mentioned that phrase, “just doing my 1/11th”. It seems like after all these years of being the star quarterback for a variety of organizations, he’s ready to just be the facilitator and do his part, nothing more, and nothing less.

Rapid Fire questions with Jason Boltus:

Q: What’s your playing style?

"“I bring a little bit of everything to the table. As I’m older, you know I say older I’m only 32 but in football years that’s old. I got a good arm, I’m pretty smart with the football, and I run around when I need too. Ultimately my job is to get the ball to our playmakers in space and let them do what they do.”"

Q: Why do your teammates call you Peyton Manning?

"“Yeah, I’ve heard people saying that. It all started when I wore a blue practice shirt that had No. 18 on it and it’s funny because actually, I’m a Tom Brady fan, it’s pretty ironic. Basically, everyone saying that comes from my preparation and me calling audibles at the line of scrimmage and properly aligning guys. You know we have a very limited amount of time to practice, I try to be a coach on the field at times and move guys around and get them in the right positions for proper spacing and alignments. It’s a good thing we have the freedom to do that on the field and we can adapt and execute the gameplan.”"

Q: How has your coaching experience helped your game?

"“It tremendously changed my game having that experience from a different perspective. It has brought my game to the next level honestly. If you sit back and study the game/tape as a head coach, just like coach Watkins does with us. You can’t ask players to do something that they aren’t comfortable with or they don’t excel at. The coaches job is to put players in positions to succeed, that’s really what helped me having that head coaching experience. I got to figure out what the team is good at and build a gameplan around that, not make it too complicated, and to keep it simple. I’ve run everything from triple option to spread offense to honestly any offense you can imagine. Then on the opposite side defensively, you study positions and body language and you know exactly what they’re going to do before they do it.”"

Q: With minimal practice time, is there any way to accelerate the chemistry and camaraderie building with teammates?

"“The only way to accelerate the chemistry is with more reps. The more game time and practice time we have, the better we’ll be. That’s why coach Tyler (offensive coordinator) bringing this uptempo feel we get more reps out of practice than most teams because of how fast we move as opposed to stopping huddling and losing valuable time. It’s really just growing together, you can’t simulate live bullets, so as we progress through the season, it’ll get better and better.”"

Q: Do you have any individual or team goals for yourself or the Strong this season?

"“Win, just win man. I want to do my 1/11th and help this team win. My professional days may be numbered, but some of these other guys are at the beginnings of their careers. I’ll just get the ball to them and then they can make plays at the highest level. I’ll do whatever I can to help this team win plain and simple.”"

Q: So you indicated it there Jason so we’ll ask, how much gas do you have left in the tank?

"“I don’t want to put a number on it. I just want to play and have some fun. As long as the game is fun for me I’m going to keep playing.”"

Q: Where’s your favorite spot to grab a bite to eat locally?

"“The B-Ville diner is a staple in Syracuse/Baldwinsville.”"

Q: On Gameday what music is blaring through your headphones?

"“Country music man. The music is an outlet for me, it doesn’t really pump me up or get me going but everyone just connects with music on some level or in some way and I just like to listen to good music and relax before the game.”"

Q: What do you do when you aren’t on the field?

"“When I’m not on the football field I’m at work, wife, baby, and all the hobbies that come through them. We went to the Zoo in Chittenango. Anything that makes them laugh and have fun.”"

People always forget that all the players on the Syracuse Strong roster don’t get paid, they do this for the love of the game. For those curious here’s what Jason Boltus does during the day:

"“I do environmental work as an Operations Manager. Anything from going out to the field to supervising crews to make sure everything is running smoothly. We don’t get paid to play for the Strong we do this straight for the love of the game.”"