Profiles In Terpage – A Countdown To The Football Season: Keith Bowers
By petevolk
A recurring series where we will profile every player and coach on Maryland’s roster, counting down to kick-off against Miami. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile one of two incoming defensive linemen. Happy Independence Day, all.
Keith Bowers, Freshman, Defensive Tackle
Stats:
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 260
Ratings: Three stars by Rivals; three stars, #152 defensive end by Scout
40-yard dash time: N/A
High School Stats (senior season): 74 tackles and 15 sacks
High School: Dwyer High School (West Palm Beach, Fla.)
How’d He Get To College Park?
Keith Bowers comes from loaded Dwyer High School, whose 2011 class had eight players go on to FBS schools (and a host of others who went to smaller programs). He was one of their best players on defense during his senior year, and their coach told Matt Bracken of the Sun that he was probably the strongest out of a defensive line that included players going to Tennessee, Florida State, and Middle Tennessee State.
Bowers was offered by a host of MAC, Sun Belt, and Conference-USA schools, but never got the call from one of the bigger schools in Florida. Instead, his choice of FBS schools was between Maryland, Illinois, and Kansas. The Terps ended up winning that battle, thanks to a strong push from Don Brown and their relentlessness in their recruitment, even through the coaching change.
At the beginning of Dwyer’s season last year, they lost a controversial game to Cleveland-Glenville, when two clear touchdowns in the final two minutes were missed by the officials. Bowers reportedly delivered an impassioned speech after the game (his coach called it “almost like a Tebow-like speech”), telling the team that they would work harder than anybody else and not lose another game. They ended up making it to the state semifinals.
Bowers was named first team Palm Beach Post all-area. More after the jump.
Nickname:
Keith “Austin” Bowers
Career Highlight:
Recording 15 sacks on that stacked defensive line.
Career Lowlight:
Don Brown leaving. It’s getting repetitive, but it affected a lot of kids.
Arbitrary Top Five List:
Athletes from Dwyer:
1. Alonzo Gee
2. Ricardo Chambers
3. Rashad Butler
4. Hunter Jones
5. Scott Maine
Dream season:
Bowers does well on the scout team and puts on about 20-30 pounds.
Nightmare season:
Bowers does poorly on the scout team and is buried on the future depth chart.
2011 Prospectus:
Keith Bowers is coming into arguably the most stacked position on Maryland’s roster. Forget about 2011, there’s no chance he can break through this year with three juniors (Joe Vellano, A.J. Francis, and Justin Anderson) who all started on the D-line last year playing up the middle. So let’s talk about the future – his 2013 prospectus, if you will.
After Vellano, Francis and Anderson graduate (and Maurice Hampton too, I guess), Andre Monroe will likely still be a starter for Maryland up the middle. At that point, barring any star recruits coming in in 2012 or 2013, the battle for the other defensive tackle slot will likely go down between Bowers and Darius Kilgo, who is a year older than Bowers. Both were not especially highly recruited, and both have their issues – Kilgo doesn’t have a lot of speed, Bowers needs to get bigger. Luckily for them, they’ve got two years to prove their case.
Monroe is a quick guy in the middle, so if Maryland wants to balance out the interior defensive line with a stronger, bigger player to play next to him, that favors Kilgo. Basically, it’s on Bowers, who probably has more raw talent than Kilgo, to get bigger and get to a proper size for an ACC defensive tackle.
If not, Bowers could also move to the outside as well, a place where some recruiting analysts have pegged him. His style of play is more suited to the inside, however, and I think it would be a mistake for Maryland to move him.
Up Next:
Our next player was the first big get for Greg Gattuso since coming to Maryland.