Alan Bowman Embracing Role as the ‘Old Guy’ and ‘Old Head’ Entering Seventh Season

As Alan Bowman went through quarterback drills in the midst of his seventh year of spring ball, Maealiuaki Smith followed behind in the same drills during only his second week of college football practice as an incoming freshman. Now teammates, Smith was in seventh grade when Bowman took his first snap in a college football game as a freshman at Texas Tech.

“I make jokes, everyone is like, ‘You were in eighth grade whenever I started my first game. You were in like seventh grade when I did that,'” Bowman said after the first day of pads. “Of course everyone kind of banters with me being old — the old guy, the old head. But it’s OK. That’s what you get for coming back. I expect that. …

“I’m a joking guy. I understand, I feel like, if you’re giving me crap about being in college for seven years. Like, I deserve it, you know what I mean. If we’re all just joking about it I think it’s healthy.”

Now 24, Bowman announced this offseason that after the NCAA approved a waiver, he would return for his seventh college football season after starting at quarterback for Oklahoma State most of last year. Bowman said even his own friends and family get confused on how he’s able to play a seventh season, so to break down how — redshirt, medical redshirt, extra year of eligibility because of COVID and four regular years of eligibility.

Bowman’s career began at Texas Tech, where he started in 16 games in three years that included two seasons plagued with injury and a medical redshirt season. He then transferred to Michigan where he saw limited playing time in two years before coming to Stillwater.

“If you would have told me my freshman year — because I started eight games as a freshman — that I would need seven years to finish college football I would have told you you were crazy,” Bowman said. “I just think that — and I tell all these guys all the time — that everyone wants to play and, ‘Aw, I don’t want to redshirt, I want to play.’ Or the COVID year or this or that.

“You never know. You never know and to use all of them and to take all of them because who knows, in a year I could be working at a job in Dallas, I could be in the NFL — who knows. But at least I’m just really glad that I was able — because of some injuries, because of COVID, because of things that happened — that I’m so glad that I got this last year back because now I get to put it all together. And I’d rather have it on the backend than the frontend when I didn’t know anything.”

Seven years of college football also means seven years of college. Bowman is currently working on his second masters degree — a masters in Recreation and Leisure Management — which he predicts he’ll be finished with in less than a year. He graduated from Texas Tech with a management degree before obtaining his first masters degree at Michigan. Once this second masters degree is complete, Bowman will have three different degrees from three different universities.

“Still student-athlete first. Absolutely,” Bowman said.

Seven years is only a year short of the time needed to obtain a PhD, though.

“See, if I would have stayed at one school for seven years, I probably could have,” Bowman said. “But I don’t think there’s anything in my mind where I’m like, ‘What would I want to be a doctor in?’ And there’s a lot of studying and papers and writing. It’s a lot to be able to do all that.”

Although Bowman is the most experienced on the roster and getting the most buzz about his extra eligibility, OSU’s 2024 roster is riddled with veterans, some of which are also playing on borrowed time like Bowman. Offensively, the Cowboys return their entire starting offensive line from last season — all of which are entering their sixth season. Rashod Owens will return for his fifth season after being second on the team in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. The leader in all those categories, Brennan Presley, will also be back for his fifth season.

“That’s what makes it fun is that everybody wants to come back for a reason,” Bowman said. “We all know that we have the potential to be really good, so we just gotta put the work in, come together as one, and we’re gonna be really good. But it is kind of nice looking out and for me not to be four or five years older than everybody else.”