Could OU flip former Texas football 4-Star ATH commit Billy Bowman?
The 2021 Texas football recruiting was sent an immeasurable blow on Oct. 7, with the news of 4-Star ATH Billy Bowman Jr. decommitting.
An absolutely catastrophic decommitment came for the 2021 Texas football recruiting class on Oct. 7, with the news that four-star Denton-Ryan athlete Billy Bowman Jr. is opening up his recruitment. About the closest thing that Texas head coach Tom Herman had to a second five-star commit in his 2021 recruiting class was the Denton, TX, product Bowman Jr.
The decommitment of Bowman Jr. arrived via social media on the evening of Oct. 7. And with it went the second highest rated commit in the Longhorns 2021 class. According to the 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, the 2021 Texas recruiting class now ranks at No. 17 in the nation and remains in the second spot in the Big 12 behind the Oklahoma Sooners.
It sounds like one of the big reasons why Bowman Jr. decommitted from Texas was the fact that they likely wanted to play him on defense. And while the coaching staff reportedly (Horns247 paid content) wanted to extend the offer to play on offense, he still has concerns about the explosiveness and potential on that side of the ball.
There is no easy way to figure out where the Longhorns go from here after losing one of their prized commits in the 2021 class with Bowman Jr. They should be putting all their chips on the table to land prospects like the highly coveted four-star Cy-Fair running back LJ Johnson and four-star DeSoto defensive end Shemar Turner.
Where Texas football and Billy Bowman Jr. go from here
But it’s really hard to pick up the pieces when Texas loses a commitment from a prospect as highly touted and versatile as Bowman Jr. The 5-foot-10 and 175 pound athlete/wide receiver ranks as the nation’s No. 33 2021 high school prospect, No. 3 athlete, and No. 6 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranks Bowman Jr. as the nation’s No. 35 high school prospect, No. 3 athlete, and No. 5 prospect out of Texas.
Bowman Jr. currently holds from more than 30 schools. The last two offers he received came in July 2020, from Oklahoma and the Auburn Tigers. Other highlighting schools on his offer sheet includes the Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Baylor Bears, Florida Gators, Florida State Seminoles, Ole Miss Rebels, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oregon Ducks, Penn State Nittany Lions, SMU Mustangs, TCU Horned Frogs, Texas Tech Red Raiders, USC Trojans, and Virginia Tech Hokies.
The school that appears to be trending to get the commitment of Bowman Jr. after decommitting from Texas is the rival north of the Red River, head coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners. While there will be the annual Red River Rivalry game taking place on the field this weekend on Oct. 10, there is also a recruiting battle now taking place between the two coaching staffs.
If Riley is willing to offer Bowman Jr. the chance to play on offense, then it would seem like a no brainer that he would commit to Oklahoma given the concerns he presented about the Longhorns. But there’s no guarantee of Bowman Jr. leaning either way from what we know at the moment.
However, where the Longhorns go from here is even more difficult to figure out than the path ahead for Bowman Jr. Landing any key blue chip prospects that Texas has left on the board is obviously critical. But beyond that they might want to scope out another prospect they could flip from elsewhere to fill the positions they wanted Bowman Jr. to play at.
The NCAA Transfer Portal might also be a key for the Longhorns since there is likely to be a plethora of talented underclassmen appearing there in the near future. At least there are a few options that Herman can turn to in this regard.
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The main focus for Herman should still be maintaining a deep top 20 class ahead of the Early Signing Period. His 2021 class isn’t shaping up to look as good as it once promised eight or 10 months ago. But he still has to salvage as much as he can from this point forward.