Owen Bowles commits to Rutgers, breaks down decision
Rutgers added yet another South Jersey product to its recruiting class of 2017 today when Cedar Creek’s Owen Bowles announced that he will join the Scarlet Knights for his college career.
“Through the whole recruiting process Rutgers was always my No.1,”Bowles told Scarlet Nation. “They were the first school to offer me. They also made it a point to talk to me throughout the week and they always made me feel like a priority.”
Bowles mentioned how a recent trip to campus helped cement his final decision.
“I went to check out the education side of things and I really enjoyed it. And it played a factor,” Bowles said. “I want to be a chemical engineering major so they set it up so I could talk to dean of engineering. I really liked how he was a big football guy, he really enjoyed the sport. Some of the other places I've been to, the teachers didn’t like athletics and thought it really affected some athlete’s academics. But this guy really enjoyed the sport of football.”
Offensive line coach AJ Blazek and assistant defensive backs coach Aaron Henry both played an integral role in landing Bowles and he commented on the both of them.
“Coach Blazek is awesome, and by far one of the biggest reasons I choose Rutgers. He's a great guy, who's down to earth and it’s a guy I want to coach me and a guy that my parents want to coach me. He's pretty straight up about everything and he's never blowing smoke.
“Coach Henry is my area recruiter and I knew a little bit about him from Duwop [Damon] Mitchell who went to my school and played under Coach Henry at Arkansas. He spoke really highly of Coach Henry and the minute I met him, I knew right away he was the real deal.”
Bowles is not the first Cedar Creek commit to Rutgers as he joins standout athlete Bo Melton in this class.
“When Bo first committed he was recruiting me really heavy,” Bowles said. “But after a little while he said to me, ‘you have all the info about Rutgers already, so just make the best decision for you.’ He said he would support me wherever I decided to go and he never forced Rutgers on me either. He definitely played a small part in me choosing Rutgers.”
Bowles is a defensive tackle recruit but will wind wind up playing offensive line at the college level. Committing to play on offense was not the overriding factor as Bowles had to do some convincing at home.
“I already knew I wanted to go to Rutgers, but it was about convincing my parents that Rutgers was the place for me. So, on Monday night, my dad talked to Coach Ash for a little on the phone and the next night my dad talked to me and told me it was the place for me.”
While college football is still waiting in the wings, it could sneak up sooner than expected if Bowles winds up graduating early and enrolling for the spring semester of 2017 at Rutgers.
“I am not sure about early enrollment. I do plan on talking to my parents about it soon. Also, I want to talk to the staff and see what they would like me to do as well.”