by Bill Seals
Much has been made of the Cyclones’ pursuit of 2020 defensive end Blaise Gunnerson and his stop in Ames over the weekend, but the Carroll Kuemper standout wasn’t the only in-state standout at the position making an impression on the staff during the same time period.
West Branch rising junior Jeff Bowie, who already had an offer from Iowa State, participated in the Big Man Camp earlier on Saturday. The 6-foot-5, 242-pound Bowie said he enjoyed an intense day of work alongside the ISU staff.
“We started with agility work and did that,” said Bowie. “Then, we broke into O-line and D-line and worked on skill work. We did one-on-one drills on the board-to-board. We did some more skill work and then ended the day with one-on-ones.
“Talking to and working with the coaches, I learned a lot of stuff that I can incorporate back to my school to make myself better. I really appreciated them taking time during their camp to teach things and really let you try to apply them in one-on-ones.”
Having already secured an I-State offer during a visit for the team’s final scrimmage, Bowie arrived back in Ames with a different mindset than a recruit that might have been in search of one.
“I really just wanted to go in and learn about their coaching styles and to see how the program fit me,” Bowie said. “I didn’t have to focus as much on getting noticed, which was nice. But I still tried my best to make sure I was doing everything well.
“It was pretty personal. I really appreciated how they came over and if you did something wrong on a rep, they would point it to you what it was and would tell you how you could fix it, instead of just telling you it was wrong.”
Perhaps the biggest focus on Bowie defensive end-wise was improving his ability to rush the quarterback.
“I’ve always been pretty good at containing the edge for my school and haven’t had problems with it, so my pass rush was big,” he said. “I wanted to work on pass rush and getting the hand moves down, since it’s a lot of muscle-memory stuff and you can always work on that no matter what.”
In addition to ISU, Bowie has secured Power-5 offers from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech before even beginning his junior season.
He said his personal touch with the Cyclone staff has been a positive part of his recruitment.
“I talked to Coach (Eli) Rasheed afterwards and told him I had a good time,” Bowie said. “He told me how I should come back next year and for me to stay in touch, because everything right now is between my coach and them or me reaching out on my own.
“I think it’s definitely a good program. What they’re doing right now is putting it in a good spot. They’re on the rise in college football. They’ve done a good job of making things personal with me. When I went there for a visit, everything was personal.”
As a sophomore on a West Branch team that finished 9-2 and made the state playoffs, Bowie compiled 31.5 tackles, 11.5 tackles-for-loss and seven sacks.
Much has been made of the Cyclones’ pursuit of 2020 defensive end Blaise Gunnerson and his stop in Ames over the weekend, but the Carroll Kuemper standout wasn’t the only in-state standout at the position making an impression on the staff during the same time period.
West Branch rising junior Jeff Bowie, who already had an offer from Iowa State, participated in the Big Man Camp earlier on Saturday. The 6-foot-5, 242-pound Bowie said he enjoyed an intense day of work alongside the ISU staff.
“We started with agility work and did that,” said Bowie. “Then, we broke into O-line and D-line and worked on skill work. We did one-on-one drills on the board-to-board. We did some more skill work and then ended the day with one-on-ones.
“Talking to and working with the coaches, I learned a lot of stuff that I can incorporate back to my school to make myself better. I really appreciated them taking time during their camp to teach things and really let you try to apply them in one-on-ones.”
Having already secured an I-State offer during a visit for the team’s final scrimmage, Bowie arrived back in Ames with a different mindset than a recruit that might have been in search of one.
“I really just wanted to go in and learn about their coaching styles and to see how the program fit me,” Bowie said. “I didn’t have to focus as much on getting noticed, which was nice. But I still tried my best to make sure I was doing everything well.
“It was pretty personal. I really appreciated how they came over and if you did something wrong on a rep, they would point it to you what it was and would tell you how you could fix it, instead of just telling you it was wrong.”
Perhaps the biggest focus on Bowie defensive end-wise was improving his ability to rush the quarterback.
“I’ve always been pretty good at containing the edge for my school and haven’t had problems with it, so my pass rush was big,” he said. “I wanted to work on pass rush and getting the hand moves down, since it’s a lot of muscle-memory stuff and you can always work on that no matter what.”
In addition to ISU, Bowie has secured Power-5 offers from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech before even beginning his junior season.
He said his personal touch with the Cyclone staff has been a positive part of his recruitment.
“I talked to Coach (Eli) Rasheed afterwards and told him I had a good time,” Bowie said. “He told me how I should come back next year and for me to stay in touch, because everything right now is between my coach and them or me reaching out on my own.
“I think it’s definitely a good program. What they’re doing right now is putting it in a good spot. They’re on the rise in college football. They’ve done a good job of making things personal with me. When I went there for a visit, everything was personal.”
As a sophomore on a West Branch team that finished 9-2 and made the state playoffs, Bowie compiled 31.5 tackles, 11.5 tackles-for-loss and seven sacks.
