Tristian Bohannon made the history books when he signed his letter of intent to play for Washington State University by becoming the first player out of Tennessee to play at that college and the first in Tipton County to be a part of the PAC-12 conference. The all-state linebacker chose WSU over University of Memphis, Southeast Missouri State University, Austin Peay State University and more.
Fun fact: Bohannan, who recently earned a 3-star rating on 247Sports.com before his signing cermony, didn’t have the spotlight he has now until the start of his senior season when Slade Calhoun moved him from defensive end to inside linebacker.
It was an experiment gone right putting a 6-foot-4, 215lbs stud with a 7-foot wingspan as the captain on defense, but it required going through trials and errors with proper education of the position for Bohannon to thrive. After practice, he was required to get extra time in the film room to study his performance.
“Of course, I knew he was going to make mistakes,” Calhoun explained when he changed Bohannon’s position, “but he got such unreal natural ability, he was going to make some “wow” plays.”
Running track for the first time last spring was another key for his success as his running form and footwork improved tremendously to where he was running a stunning 4.4 on 40-yard-dash. With his size, speed, and motor, he was an unstoppable force for the Cougars’ undefeated regular season this past year.
“I give a huge amount of credit to his success to Coach (Bernard) Ivie and the track program.” Calhoun stated as one of the reason that Bohannon was successful.
He was able to put his season on tape and college coaches came from across the nation was wanting him- then came a school that traveled over 2100 miles to check the kid out. Now as a player for a school in the wild west, he has to learn an entire new culture, but he is confident that he will fit right in.
“They’re actually kind of similar to Munford because they’re basically a family, they eat together, they do everything together, so there wouldn’t be a difference.” The signee said about his perspective of the team when he went on his official visit.
Bohannan’s main drive to be at this level was to show people who had doubts about him that he was able to play for a Power Five college because of his work ethics and natural abilities.
“I just proved everybody that I can do it.” He added.
Great article!!!
Very impressive young man. Congratulations