Jeff Bowie working hard and improving
West Branch defensive lineman Jeff Bowie has the skills needed to play both inside and outside in the trenches at the college level. We caught up with his football coach, Butch Pedersen, and talked to him about this soon to be Hawkeye.
Q: How would you describe him overall as a football player?
PEDERSEN: I think he improved technique wise from the beginning to the end extremely well. He probably uses his hands as well as anyone we have had on defense. He is blessed with that acceleration where he can get up the field and make plays. He is strong enough to play inside if that is what we need. He has worked hard in the weight room. That is what really stood out to me. He has enjoyed lifting weights and that is unusual for a high school kid. He enjoys it and getting after it in there. His dad gets a lot of credit for that because he was a big weightlifter when he was younger. He has gotten more vocal as he was a quiet kid when we first got him. He is more of a leader who stands up and lets people know things in a constructive manner. I think he reads the offenses well and knows exactly what they are doing. There have been a lot of tips that we taught him, and he learned at camp that have been beneficial to him being a better defensive player.
Q: What areas is he going to continue working on?
PEDERSEN: I’m not sure if Iowa has sent him their strength program yet. Most colleges do that after their season, and I assume they will with him. He is basically working on getting stronger each and every day. He is a multiple sport athlete and will be a basketball player this winter. That will continue to help with his speed, quickness, and agility as well. I know that is something he’ll have fun with. We are hoping to get him out for track. He was really, really good at shot and discus when he was younger and was winning championships at meets. We are doing all we can to get him out for that.
Q: How much has multiple sports helped him as an athlete?
PEDERSEN: I have never known one college coach I’ve talked to that has specified that they don’t like multiple sport athletes. They encourage them to do a variety of sports and we do the same thing. It has really helped him getting in more competitive, pressure situations. I like kids being put in pressure situations where they have to produce and that is the natural benefit. You get that being a multiple sport athlete.
Q: What separates him from his peers to get the type of attention and honors that he has received?
PEDERSEN: I think he is big at 6-5, 250 pounds. Sometimes when you get that big, you get slower, but he’s not done that. He has kept his speed and agility. That is what separates him along with his work ethic in the weight room. A normal athlete likes to lift, but he is very willing to lift and has a deep desire to be a football player. His parents have done a great job getting him to camps, and that has given him a lot of exposure.
Q: How did you use him on the field this season?
PEDERSEN: He played on the offensive line at tackle and was a good offensive player. He is best on the defensive side of the ball. We put him inside a little more than normal and would still have him on the edge. We put him on special teams now and then. We tried to give him the full gambit and he responded well. At times during camp, I would see him showing kids some different moves that he has learned throughout his career. That was beneficial from a leadership standpoint. I had not seen him do that before this year.
Q: What type of season did he end up having?
PEDERSEN: He had a great season. When you have a kid like that where they know about him, they have a tendency to run away from him. I don’t think there were any games where he didn’t get doubled and sometimes triple teamed. We would put him on the wide side and that helped our defense. Statistics weren’t what they had been because they ran away from him and he didn’t have an opportunity to do things.
Q: Where does he project out at the college level position wise?
PEDERSEN: I think right now, they’ll look at him as a rush end, but he has the frame and size to be an inside player. It depends on how he develops at Iowa in the weight room. He will initially start at rush end.
As a senior, Bowie finished the season with 20.5 tackles, 11 TFL, four sacks, and a fumble recovery for West Branch.