Explaining Why Aspen Boulware Of Gray Collegiate, & Carson Boleman of Southside Christian Are Top Underclassmen Athletes In SC
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
Columbia—In this Modern Turf recruiting article we will focus on Gray Collegiate rising junior softball player Aspen Boulware, her highly regarded rising senior football playing brother Michael Boulware, Jr., and Southside Christian junior left-handed pitcher Carson Boleman who struck-out 19 batters in his team’s state championship win over Oceanside Collegiate.
As always, we would like to extend our appreciation to Mark Grainger and the fine folks at Modern Turf, in Irmo and Rembert, for sponsoring our monthly recruiting feature page.
Having covered two recent Gray Collegiate softball games, this writer of 52 years, truly feels like rising junior Aspen Boulware, who plays shortstop for the War Eagles, was the best softball player in the state of South Carolina this past season, from any grade level. In all honesty, I think she may have been the top prep sophomore player in the United States, and that covers a whole lot of ground.
This past season Boulware led the state of South Carolina in home runs (22), RBI’s (44), and runs scored (67). She hit .573 and was easily chosen the AAAA Player of the Year by the South Carolina Softball Coaches Association . She was the Region Player of the Year also.
And if we can all keep this a secret, due to the fact the HSSR, will not officially release our Spring Sports all-state teams until Monday, June, 16, Boulware was the top vote getter on all-state ballots returned from head softball coaches all around the state for 2025 Miss Softball honors. She will indeed be named Miss Softball in the state of South Carolina when the lists of honorees are made public by the HSSR at hssr.com in mid-June.
After watching her play “live” on May, 6 in an early round play-off 15-0 win over Bluffton, it was time to meet this truly gifted athlete, and have her share some of her hopes and dreams she has as a softball player.
“Absolutely, my number one goal right now is to help my team win a state title,” said Boulware after the Bluffton win. “My role is to help carry the team offensively and defensively. We are not a one- person team. It takes all of us playing together to have success.
“I love being a part of this team, and we are all focused on competing hard, and hopefully winning a state title,” she said. “I have been playing softball competitively since I was 8 years old, and softball is the only varsity sport I play. I take a lot of pride in trying to lift up, and support my teammates.
“One of my strong goals is to be on the USA softball team in the 2028 Olympics,” said Boulware. “That would be a dream come true if I could accomplish that goal.”
Boulware has already played on the USA National 16-U softball team, and she has been promoted to the 18-U USA National team this summer, and this group of the best-of-best will play against other top teams for a three- week period over the summer.
Less than 24 hours after helping her team defeat York 5-2, to capture the state title, with a towering home run over the right field fence in the first inning, Boulware has joined her elite travel team known as the Thunder Bolts based in Alabama. In that game she blasted another home run! By the way, after her first inning bomb against York she was walked the next two times she came to bat.
In fact, Boulware was walked 35 times during her sophomore season, making her stats even more impressive. How many more home runs and RBI’s might she have had if teams were willing to pitch to her?
Doug Frye is the highly regarded head softball coach at Gray Collegiate. He is an old school coach who rarely gets carried away talking about any one player he coaches. He breaks his own rule when talking about Aspen Boulware.
“Her work ethic is what blows me away,” said Coach Frye. “Who gets in a car with her mother (former Florida State Softball Hall of Fame member Jessica van der Linden, who was named the National Softball Player of the Year in 2004), and drives 250 miles to Alabama to play with her travel team the next day?
“Last year, the day after we won the AA state title, she and mother went to a local rec field and Boulware asked her mother to hit her 500 ground balls as hard as she could,” said Coach Frye. “I can say with confidence that she is the best high school softball player in South Carolina. With everything she brings to the table I do not think any other player can match her all around play.
“She could easily play center field for us, and she can throw a softball 64 miles per hour, but she would rather play shortstop,” said Coach Frye. “You might say there is a little competition between she and her mother. Aspen studies pitchers like no player I’ve been around. She takes pride in knowing when the change-up is coming for example.
“Well, one day her mother is pitching to her during one of their many practice routines, and Aspen tells her Mom (who won 67 games in the circle at FSU) that she could hit a home run against her best pitching,” said Coach Frye. “Well, the competition between the two began and after 30 pitches, or so, the Mom was winning the challenge.
“Aspen figured out that her Mom’s next pitch would be a change-up and she guessed right,” said Coach Frye. “She blasted the ball over the fence, and deep into the woods, and I don’t even think they even went to look for the ball, as that was the end of that batting practice.”
In conclusion, Coach Frye says Aspen is the fastest player he has ever coached. “Teams that walk her have to deal with the fact she will be on third base before they know it,” said Coach Frye. “As a shortstop she can get to balls hit deep into the hole, that few other shortstops can get to. She can make a very challenging play look routine and she throws many batters out by two steps from deep short.”
The HSSR considers the top junior baseball prospect in South Carolina to be Carson Boleman a 6-3 LHP pitcher from Southside Christian who recently stuck-out 19 batters against Oceanside Collegiate to lead the Sabre’s to the AAA state title.
Boleman is a commitment to Wake Forest but the Deacons could be competing with major league baseball for his services after he graduates next year.
Southside Christian is head coached by Scott Freeman, and he was just appointed the athletic director for the Sabres as well. Coach Freeman has won five baseball state titles and he finished the 2025 with 307-110-1 career record. He has help develop numerous major college prospects, particularly when he heads coached Mauldin baseball for six years, earlier in his career.
When asked if he had ever coached anyone better than Boleman, Freeman had a quick response, “No, I have not and I doubt that I ever will.”
In the first inning of the state finals second game with Oceanside Collegiate, Coach Freeman said Boleman’s fastball was clocked at 95 mph. “Carson just doesn’t over power you on the mound because he has command of several pitches and he is very effective with his off-speed pitches as well.
“He throws a slider, curve ball, and change-up and he is just a student of the game,” said Coach Freeman. “He began pitching for our varsity in the 8th grade when he pitched game one against Johnsonville in the state championship series. He had elbow surgery his 9th grade year and he returned to hit some late in the season, but he did not pitch at all his freshman year.
“He came on strong his sophomore year on the mound and has been even better as a junior,” said Coach Freeman. “Coaches love it when their top player is also the hardest worker on the team. Carson never lets anything go to his head. The day after he had 19 strike-outs in the championship game he was back in the gym the next day working out.”
As a junior, Boleman finished 12-0 on the mound. He had an unreal 135 strike-outs in 55 innings of work. He had an ERA of 0.00. Teams batted .039 against him. These are some impressive stats for any baseball pitcher. Boleman is a first baseman when he is not on the mound.
He hit .352 with seven home runs and 38 RBI’s this season. He is under serious consideration for the Gatorade SC Player of the Year according to Coach Freeman.
“I knew Carson was going to be a special player when I first heard about him in like the fourth grade,” said Coach Freeman. “You will never meet a more humble kid. He does not let success go to his head. He is a great team mate. In the class room he carries like a 4.65 GPA.
“I would use adjectives like focused and confident when he is on the mound,” said Coach Freeman. ”He is smart on the mound and he is always thinking ahead of the batters he is facing. He is a kid that was born to play baseball at a very high level. If he does not get early round consideration for the major league draft, after next season, there should not even be a draft. He is everything you are looking for in a pitcher and he has been a pleasure to coach.”
Boleman plays on a well-respected National Showcase travel team known as the Canes and his coach says he will be active with the canes this summer where he is surely to get scouted by numerous major league teams.
“Honestly, Carson is really committed to Wake Forest and he loves the coaching staff in place in Winston Salem,” said Coach Freeman. “His family has ties to the Winston Salem area also.
“”Carson has had interest from many major colleges like Clemon and South Carolina,” said Coach Freeman. “He has been to a lot of prospect camps over the past two summers but he fell in love with Wake Forest and the baseball staff and it would be hard for any college to get him away from Wake Forest right now.”
When you watch film of Gray Collegiate 2026 linebacker Michael Boulware (6-2, 220), or watch him play on Friday night, it’s like a flash-back to the days his father (Michael, Sr.) and uncle (Peter) played at Spring Valley, back in the 1990’s. Peter and Michael, Sr. went on to play at Florida State and both brothers went on to play in the NFL after college.
The younger Boulware had 155 tackles, 8 TFL, two sacks, 11 hurries, and four interceptions as a sophomore when he helped lead Gray Collegiate to the AA state title. He followed up those outstanding accomplishments with 103 tackles, five sacks, 9.5 TFL, two interceptions, three forced fumbles and two blocked kicks as a junior. Unfortunately, his team was put out of the play-offs by the SCHSL for using an ineligible player so he only played in 10 games as a junior.
The question this writer has is likely the same questions the Boulware family has, now that the off-campus Spring evaluation period has come and gone. Despite his hard-work as a sophomore and junior, Boulware is yet to receive a major college football offer. He was even left off the 247 2026 in-state watch list for South Carolina.
This writer had an in-depth conversation with Boulware’s high school coach DeAngelo Bryant and he is little disappointed also. After graduation from Silver Bluff Coach Bryant went on to enjoy a college career at Wake Forest. In fact, he played against Michael’s father in college.
“Back in February I watched Michael play in a junior all-star showcase game at Airport High School with most of the top rising seniors involved in the game,” said Coach Bryant. “Michael had 12 tackles and he was the best linebacker in the game, on either team, hands down.
“A couple months later he attends a Coaches Combine at Woodland High and he runs a 4.25 shuttle that measures how well at athlete runs from side-to-side and in all directions,” said Bryant. “When you run a shuttle that fast, carrying 218 pounds of weight, that is really separating you from the pack. No one at that event came close to that shuttle time.”
Boulware runs a 4.65 laser times forty. He dead lifts 500 pounds with a 425 squat. He powers cleans 290 with a vertical of 32 inches. He has a 295- pound bench press.
Having reported on top football players in South Carolina for nearly 40 years I companion with the Boulware family in asking this question. What else does Michale Boulware need to do on a football field to merit an offer from a major college football program?
During the May evaluation period Coach Bryant said 32 different colleges came by to see him and he said several came by only to talk to him about Boulware.
“I got the impression that while a lot of major colleges said they like the sheer athleticism of Michael, they have yet to elevate liking him, to loving him” said Coach Bryant. “There is no doubt in my mind that he is a power five football player. On a football field he has a high motor that all coaches love.
“I think what has been lost by major college coaches is the fact that no one is going to out-work Michael Boulware, and I mean no one when I say this,” said Coach Bryant. “Trust me, this will be verified by the college that is fortunate to sign in.”
At the present time Boulware has serious interest from Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, and Coastal Carolina. South Carolina has told him that he is on their radar and to date Clemson has not shown little interest but he did camp with the Tigers recently. He will be attending numerous one day prospect camps over the summer.
The HSSR currently ranks Boulware as the 15th over-all 2026 prospect in South Carolina. He is expected to have a monster senior season at Gray Collegiate and we wish him well. With football scholarships increasing from a total of 105, compared to the old allotment of 85 one would hope there is an opportunity for a truly talented player like Boulware to land a spot in a power five program.
So, in this Modern Turf recruiting feature we have talked in-depth about top sophomore softball prospect Aspen Boulware of Gray Collegiate, rising senior football prospect Michael Boulware also of gray Collegiate, and Carson Boleman, one of the nation’s top junior pitchers this past season.
The state of South Carolina continues to be a hotbed for next level prep talent as exemplified by these three outstanding athletes.
