It Sounds Like Illinois Transfer Receiver Justin Bowick Is Going to Be a Problem for Opposing Defenses

STILLWATER — I asked eight Oklahoma State players on Saturday for an offensive player that the media isn’t talking enough about yet but will soon.

Of the 113 guys on the roster, Justin Bowick’s name was said three times. The 6-foot-5, 209-pound Illinois transfer receiver might just be a freak.

“An offensive player — Justin Bowick, for sure,” tight end Oscar Hammond said. “He’s a great player, man. Throw the ball up, he’s gonna catch it. He’s a great deep threat. He’s just a man. He’s a great player, too, and off the field, I like him. He’s a great guy. He’s a good buddy of mine.”

“I’d say Justin Bowick’s a guy on offense that’s gonna be an animal — for sure,” kicker Sam Keltner said. “… We do flying 10s (a 10-yard velocity sprint) in the offseason, he would win about every one of them. He was running like in the 1.3s, which is quick. Me on a good day is running like a 1.52, which I’m feeling good about. It’s insane how athletic he is. He’s really hard-working. I see him in the weight room doing extra stuff all the time, so he’ll be a dude for sure.”

Those 10-meter dashes were something new Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris mentioned when he met with the media earlier this week.

“I think Justin Bowick is a guy that has a skillset to play this game for a long time, has the length and speed,” Morris said. “I think he had our fastest timed 10-meter dash this summer at 6-foot-5, so a guy that is looking like a 4.4, 4.3 guy at that size is a guy (I’m) super excited about.”

It seems unfair that a guy could be 6-foot-5 and one of the faster guys on the team.

It hasn’t exactly all come together for Bowick on a Division-I football field yet, but there’s reason to believe it’s coming.

Out of Atlanta, Bowick started his career at Eastern Illinois. Across two seasons at the FCS level, he caught 48 balls for 749 yards and eight touchdowns before transferring to Ball State ahead of the 2024 season.

That year in the MAC was Bowick’s best to date .. and he did it in just four games. Bowick started four games with Ball State while redshirting, and in that time he caught 20 passes for 383 yards and three touchdowns. In his last two games that season, Bowick caught 15 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

Last season was Bowick’s lone year at Illinois, where in a dozen games he caught 22 passes for 265 yards and five touchdowns, which tied a team lead.

But the Illinois offense and Morris’ OSU offense aren’t exactly the same thing.

The Illini had a good season last year, but Illinois ranked 78th nationally in total offense at 373.8 yards a game. The Illini ranked 58th nationally in passing, throwing for 235.8 yards a game. At North Texas, Morris’ offense ranked first nationally (512.4 yards per game) while the Mean Green’s passing offense ranked second nationally (318 yards a game)

“I think if you look at the difference of offenses and how we’re going to attack people and how Illinois attacks people, two totally different schemes,” Morris said Saturday. “And we’re really going to put together some creative ways to utilize that speed and that length on the perimeter. So he’s worked hard this whole entire summer.

“I got a 10-year-old that’s eaten up with football right now, so we come in the afternoons to the indoor just to get some drills in and all those things. And almost every time I went in there, Justin Bowick’s in there whether he’s catching jugs, working on his craft.”

Bowick said Saturday that he can already feel how differently his skillset is being implemented.

“Ever since OTAs and the winter, I’ve been used a lot differently this year and spread all across the field, used different ways, run different routes,” Bowick said. “So, I love it.”