The 2020 Texas Tech football season may hinge on QB Alan Bowman and there’s reason to believe this will be the season he finally stays healthy.
The most important position on the football field is QB. Thus, it’s a problem that the Texas Tech football program has not had elite play at that spot since Pat Mahome’s final year on the South Plains in 2016.
If 2020 is going to be the year that this program finally starts to pull out of its decade-long tailspin, Matt Wells and Co. need more from the QB position. Mostly, they need Alan Bowman to remain healthy.
Bowman’s injury-riddled career is already shaping up to be one of the most frustrating we’ve seen from a Red Raider in quite some time. That’s because he’s flashed stretches of pure brilliance only to have head-scratching moments as well.
The 2018 version of Bowman was spectacular…when he was on the field. In the five games he started and did not leave with an injury, he averaged 403 yards per game through the air. In those contests, he threw 13 TDs to only six interceptions. He also had a completion percentage of 74.4%.
But at other times, he’s been noticeably off his game. For instance, in 2018, he was picked off three times and had a completion percentage of just 57.1% in a loss at Iowa State. Then there was his two INT game at Arizona last fall in which he completed a career-low 54.5% of his passes. (It was a career-low for games that he did not leave due to injury.)
In fact, Bowman never looked as comfortable in 2019 as he did as a true freshman. There are many theories as to why.
First of all, he was playing in a completely new system under head coach Matt Wells and offensive coordinator David Yost. Unlike the Kliff Kingsbury offense, which was built around specific plays, the Yost offense is more of a conceptual offense that asks QBs to make reads based on the looks the defense gives. That may have taken some time for Bowman and his receivers to adjust to.
Speaking of Bowman and his receivers, some believe that they were never on the same page a year ago. First of all, he was coming off an injury-plagued season that limited the number of practice and game reps that they had together. Second of all, Tech saw new receivers start at every position but one last year so it is natural to believe that early in the season, they might not have been seeing the field the same way.
Then, of course, there is the thought that the injuries from 2018 were haunting Bowman. There’s no question that his footwork was off last fall and that he seemed far more likely to throw off his back foot rather than to stand in the pocket and risk a big hit. That led many to believe that the problem was in his subconscious.
But the good news is that we have reasons to believe that the redshirt sophomore from Grapevine, Texas will be able to finally play a full season in 2020. If he does, it could be just what this program needs in order to move towards respectability once again. So let’s look at why it is fair to think that Bowman can stay healthy this fall.