The Oklahoma State Cowboys picked up a nice piece for their 2013 recruiting class on Thursday with the pledge of 2013 Tyler (Texas) John Tyler defensive end, as first reported by Harold Wilson of the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Jumbo athlete Tyus Bowser commits to Oklahoma State
The physically impressive do-everything jumbo athlete ended a lowkey recruitment on Thursday.
Bowser was scheduled to call head coach Mike Gundy and inform him of the news on Thursday afternoon. The 6-3, 235-pounder is a consensus three-star prospect with four-star production and versatility who held offers from Memphis, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Memphis prior to his pledge.
The commitment comes just days after Bowser took his official visit to Stillwater.
Though Bowser burst onto the scene as the Newcomer of the Year in John Tyler’s competitive district, his recruitment never really took off, despite a senior season that produced 24.5 sacks and five forced fumbles.
Perhaps a part of the issue was the fact that Bowser was about as physically developed after his sophomore season as he was after his junior season -- he never really put on that extra 10-15 pounds of muscle that would have made him an easy projection at defensive end.
In fact, Bowser played a number of roles for John Tyler, including defensive end, linebacker, and back-up quarterback. During the 2012 summer 7on7 season, he was especially impressive as a tight end/inside receiver on offense, using the speed that allowed him to register all those sacks to stretch the field vertically and the hands to consistently attack the football in a way that few defenders playing offense can manage -- he looked like a natural receiver who spent all his time at the position.
So although Bowser will start off his career as a Cowboy as a defensive end, most likely as a situational pass rusher, there’s also the outside possibility that he could make the move to H-back if necessary. Oklahoma State had success last season playing Blake Jackson at wide receiver, another big athlete whose measurables are exactly the same as Bowser’s.
The 22nd commit of the 2013 Oklahoma State recruiting class, Bowser is the third defensive end taken by Gundy and his staff in this cycle. Overall, the class ranks 27th in the country and fourth in the Big 12, according to the 247Sports rankings.
