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Texas Tech football: Alan Bowman talks about health and grasp of the offense

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 07: Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 and wide receiver RJ Turner #2 signal during "The Matador Song" after the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners at Jones AT&T Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Lubbock, Texas. (Poto by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 07: Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 and wide receiver RJ Turner #2 signal during "The Matador Song" after the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners at Jones AT&T Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Lubbock, Texas. (Poto by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images)
Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. (Photo by David K Purdy/Getty Images) /

If the Texas Tech football team is going to be better in 2020, QB Alan Bowman will likely have to stay healthy and take his play to another level.  He discussed those topics and more with the media on Saturday.

Alan Bowman isn’t necessarily being handed the starting QB job this offseason the way he was in prior to the 2019 Texas Tech football season.  But should he win the job as almost everyone expects, he will be perhaps the most important individual player on the 2020 roster.

However, there exists around the fan base a skepticism when talking about the redshirt sophomore.  That’s because he’s yet to play a full college football season due to injuries.  And now, there are some legitimate contenders for his spot giving fans some options to pine for because, after all, the most popular play on the roster is often the backup QB.

In December of 2018, one of the first remarks Matt Wells made when he was hired as head coach was that Alan Bowman would be his starter.  He pointed to the Grapevine native as one of the reasons that his job was to “reload, not rebuild”.

Thus, there was never any question last offseason that Bowman was going to be the starter.  That’s because, behind him was junior Jett Duffey, who had never won an offseason QB competition at Texas Tech and who Bowman beat out for the No. 2 spot to open the 2018 season.  Also, not much was known about how good then true freshman Maverick McIvor of San Angelo was given that he had missed all but a game-and-a-half of his senior year thanks to a blown-out knee.

But this year, the options behind Bowman are legitimate.  McIvor was good enough in fall camp last year to surpass Duffey on the depth chart before breaking his foot in the final preseason intrasquad scrimmage so there’s reason to think he’s got something to offer as a collegiate.

What’s more, Wells has added Henry Colombi, a grad transfer from Utah State who has considerable experience in the offense that Tech is now running.  In fact, Colombi was expected to start for the Aggies this year until a grad transfer from Utah was added to the roster in Logan.

While neither McIvor nor Colombi is expected to surpass Bowman in fall camp, should he suffer yet another long-term injury this year, he could see one of them perform well enough in his absence to challenge his stats as QB1.  Still, this season is likely going to hinge on whether Bowman can stay upright and how well he performs against Big 12 competition (he’s only played in five Big 12 games in his career).

So let’s take a look at what Bowman had to say to the media on Saturday.  And we will start with his assessment of the elephant in the room.

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