Texas Tech football: What Alan Bowman has to prove in 2020

He can stay healthy

Coaches like to preach that a player’s best ability is availability.  That’s something Bowman has yet to master as a Red Raider and if 2020 is going to be a success, he’s got to put in a full season.

Tech remains dangerously thin at QB with Bowman, Maverick McIvor, and Donovan Smith as the only three scholarship QBs that are set to be on the roster this fall.  That’s frightening given that neither of the players behind Bowman has taken a snap in a college game.

What makes one have hope that Bowman will finally play a full season is the fact that his two injuries have been rather fluky.  Thus, he isn’t necessarily the classic injury-prone player.

In 2018, his two collapsed lung injuries were as a result of massive hits that he took.  Last season’s left shoulder injury was also the result of a brutal shot handed to him by a blitzing LB who finished the play by driving Bowman into the turf.

While QBs are going to take blows like that, it’s somewhat unfair to label a player as made of glass because of those types of injuries.  That type of cynicism should be reserved for players who constantly suffer non-contact injuries such as muscle pulls or strains.

"“Just gotta keep ‘em healthy,” Wells told John E. Hoover of Sports Illustrated. “I gotta hope that it was a little bit of bad luck, to be honest with you — for both [Bowman and McIor]. They are, first, they are really going through their first real offseason…This winter, they needed — as much as anybody, and as quarterbacks — you lift and you train to get up off the turf and to play another play. “And I think that’s extremely important for those guys that put on the right weight. But they gained strength, and they gained some muscle mass, to be able to protect themselves a little bit. And again, I’m hopeful that the last couple of years for both of ‘em was just bad luck.”"

If Bowman can stay on the field for all 12 games in 2020, this offense could take a massive step towards being one of the best in the nation.   Should that happen, Bowman will also be one of the hottest names in the conference by the end of his third year on campus.