Bowie opens senior season with victory
While the Hawkeyes will not be playing football this fall, just a few miles away from legendary Kinnick Stadium there was a football game on Friday night.
Iowa commit Jeff Bowie and his West Branch teammates kicked off his senior season at the Little Rose Bowl by hosting the Tipton Tigers. It was a hard fought contest with the Bears pulling away late for a 17-8 victory.
As you might expect, Bowie played a big role in the victory. He was on the field for essentially every snap on both sides of the ball. On the night, he finished with three tackles for loss as Tipton spent most of the game running away from the standout defensive lineman.
For the three star standout, just being back on the field and playing football felt great.
“We didn’t even know if this season was going to happen and it feels great that it’s here,” Bowie said following the victory. “I’m happy with got the win with really a whole new group of a lot of guys playing at this level for the first time.”
Leading up to Friday night’s game, Bowie and future Iowa teammates were sharing supportive messages in their text group about the season opening contests.
“Most of the in-state guys in our commitment class are playing in difference classes, so we won’t likely play against each other this season, but we all wished each other well today in our group chat.”
This is a strong group of in-state recruits in the Class of 2021 in the state of Iowa and the Hawkeyes have eight commits from Iowa. With high school football not happening in several states, one of Bowie’s future teammates, Arland Bruce, transferred to join fellow future Hawkeye Brody Brecht at Ankeny High School. Friday, Bruce was ruled ineligible by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.
“That was really sad and frustrating because we all know how much he went through just to get moved to Iowa,” Bowie said. “He just wants to play football and did everything to fulfill the requirements.”
The bond that Bowie and his future teammates have built on their visits to Iowa and in their group chat played a significant role in holding the 2021 group together when the Hawkeye program experienced some major turbulence in the month of June.
After several former players spoke out against racial issues within the Iowa program, long time strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle was placed on administrative leave and eventually agreed to a separation agreement with the University of Iowa.
All of those issues might have fractured many recruiting classes, but the Hawkeye commits stood firm in their decision.
“We just really talk through everything and at the end of the day, we just trust Kirk Ferentz. He’s the reason we all committed there,” he said. “We trust that when change was needed that he would make those changes. We trust that it will be even better once we get there.”
Bowie said he and his future teammates never wavered in their decision to be Hawkeyes.
“We were all going to stick together. No one had any second thoughts.”