OU adds Micah Bowen to QB room
If there’s one spot at Oklahoma where you just can’t worry about anything, it’s quarterback. Transfers are going to happen, have happened, but head coach Lincoln Riley is always going to find the answers.
Heading into 2021, though, it sure looked like Riley was going to have his work cut out for him because of the transfer portal. But as OU has done before, the portal can take, but it can give as well.
The Sooners added a big-time transfer quarterback to their roster Tuesday afternoon, with former Penn State signal-caller Micah Bowens.
Bowens told SoonerScoop.com it’s a scholarship offer and not a preferred walk-on option.
OU needed help in the room, but Riley had talked in the last month about not necessarily needing scholarship help in the room, so it wasn’t clear what direction the Sooners would be going with Bowens. OU saw two of its quarterbacks leave in the last month with redshirt sophomore Tanner Mordecai going to SMU, and true freshman Chandler Morris heading to TCU.
Entering this week, that meant OU was only down to two scholarship quarterbacks. As good as it could get with Spencer Rattler and five-star signee Caleb Williams but not a lot of depth.
That changes, though, with the addition of Bowens.
Bowens was a high three-star quarterback from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, who spent the 2020 season at Penn State. The No. 4-ranked prospect in the state of Nevada and the No. 12th-ranked prospect as a dual-threat quarterback.
It has been a while since the Sooners have made a splash at Bishop Gorman, the high school of running backs coach DeMarco Murray, but there’s no doubt OU is hoping to do so in the 2022 and 2023 classes. Getting Bowens can only help in that regard.
OU had a couple of positions to hit, for sure, through the portal. After not much action in recent weeks, the Sooners have attacked this one with back-to-back home runs.
The Bowens addition comes just a day removed from former Rivals 100 offensive prospect Wanya Morris picking the Sooners on Monday after transferring from Tennessee.
OU has lost a lot through the portal in the last month, and now Riley and crew are putting their own pieces together to finalize the 2021 puzzle.
Looking to add more depth to the quarterback room, OU also offered a preferred walk-on option to Fairview (Texas) Lovejoy’s Ralph Rucker, who helped lead Lovejoy to a 13-1 record this season.