It’s not receiver Silas Bolden's crisp route-running that has drawn the most attention from his new Texas football peers this summer. It’s not the sure hands, not even the blazing speed.

Instead, his teammates and coaches use other kinds of words — selfless, tough, heart, fearless, grit — to describe the 5-foot-8, 160-pound transfer from Oregon State who has quickly carved out his spot in a deep receiving corps since arriving on campus in June.

Just ask defensive back Michael Taaffe, the former walk-on who helps personify the underdog spirit that head coach Steve Sarkisian wants to see on a roster that's resplendent with former four- and five-star recruits.

“He’s a do-it-all, selfless guy,” Taaffe said. “Whatever he needs to do, whatever the coaches need him to do, he's going to do it. I'm sure you all heard about the speed, the hands, the routes, but I want to mention that how selfless of a player he is. I told him that the other day, ‘Dude, never lose that.’ I've never seen somebody that's gotten so much hype but has not let that hype get to him and just put his head down and grind.”

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Steve Sarkisian: Bolden an ‘every-down’ receiver

Bolden arrived at Oregon State as an undersized and underrecruited three-star receiver from Southern California who didn’t have a single other offer from a Power Four program. But he made a big impact in his four years with the Beavers, garnering two All-Pac 12 selections as a kick returner and totaling 1,279 yards of offense and 80 receptions. As a junior last season, he led Oregon State with 1,319 all-purpose yards and tied for second on the team with eight total touchdowns. Those tallies included 746 receiving yards and five touchdown catches.

“He has a great deal of experience and he has a great deal of experience in an NFL-style offense,” Sarkisian said. “So, a lot of our concepts and things that we do aren't foreign to him.”

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That “NFL-style offense” also means Bolden can do more than line up as a slot receiver despite his slight build. He moves around in Sarkisian’s scheme, something all the receivers with the possible exception of freshman Ryan Wingo do for the Longhorns.

“Silas has an unbelievable work ethic,” Sarkisian said. “Football matters to him. He's very serious about it. He has elite speed, clearly, but he's a fearless player, and so we don't view him as a specialty player. We view him as a regular every-down player like any other receiver, and I think he's going to have a real impact on our team this fall.”

Senior defensive back Jahdae Barron has played every position in the secondary during camp, from the star position covering the slot and both safety spots to outside at cornerback. That means he’s gone against Isaiah Bond, Matthew Golden, DeAndre Moore Jr., Johntay Cook II and every other Texas receiver in practice.

No one, he insists, fights for the ball harder than Bolden.

“They all do, really, but Silas makes strong catches,” Barron said. “He may be little, but he has a lot of heart to him. He's a heck of a ball player. I love Silas.”

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Quinn Ewers: Team-first attitude makes Bolden special

No one loves a receiver battling for the ball more than Quinn Ewers, who enters his third season as the starting quarterback. But Ewers also loves the spirit that Bolden brings, which he says matters as much as any contested catch.

“The biggest thing consistently that I see from him is just his excitement whenever he makes a play, and even whenever his teammates make a play,” Ewers said.

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That excitement spilled over at a recent practice when tight end Juan Davis scored the winning touchdown in what the Longhorns call “redzone lockout,” a competitive drill that pits the offense against the defense. Ewers grinned and shook his head while describing Bolden’s reaction after Davis made the grab in the end zone.

“Silas ran over to him and is jumping on him and just firing him up,” Ewers said. “It’s stuff like that, you just love to see it. Silas didn't get the ball, he doesn't need to go over there and celebrate with Juan, but he does that. It's those types of things that really, really fire you up.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas WR Silas Bolden lighting up Longhorns' summer camp