Oklahoma, Notre Dame or Someone Else? Has 5-Star DB Peyton Bowen Made Up His Mind?
NORMAN — Maybe Peyton Bowen really doesn’t know what he wants to do. Maybe he does and and he’s just being respectful to the recruiting process. Or maybe he’s already firmly made up his mind and he’s just letting it all play out.
Whatever the prized Texas high school recruit decides — or has decided — should be revealed soon. Wednesday is the first day of the early signing period — National Signing Day. Will Bowen remain committed to Notre Dame? Will he flip to Oklahoma? Or will he flip to Texas A&M?
It’s been in the recruiting ether for months now, and as of Monday, there were few real indicators that he had decided one way or another.
Reed Heim is Bowen’s high school football coach at Guyer High School in Denton, TX, and Heim has a theory.
“In my opinion, the longer that he stays committed to Notre Dame — every second that he stays committed to Notre Dame — I think his chances of going to Notre Dame are going up,” Heim told AllSooners on Monday. “Because he already made that decision a long time ago. So it's the easiest thing for him to do, is just stick with it.”
Bowen had an official visit scheduled to Oregon this past weekend, but he canceled it. He had also been considering taking an official to Oklahoma. That didn’t happen.
Texas A&M, with its seemingly unlimited resources, has been recruiting him hard. He’s been verbally committed to the Fighting Irish since Jan. 1, but he’s been pulled by OU for about that long, as best friend and Guyer 5-star quarterback Jackson Arnold committed to the Sooners on Jan. 24.
Bottom line: Bowen is torn.
“Very difficult,” Heim said. “I think that it's one of those things where he really enjoyed the recruiting process — you know, as far as listening to everybody, seeing what everybody has to say and offer and all these things. And so the good thing about that is that it's really allowed a couple of the really big-time programs to kind of rise to the top.”
Bowen is the No. 3 overall player in Texas and the No. 2 safety in the nation, according to 247 Sports. The 6-foot, 190-pound senior also has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas and USC.
Bowen reportedly had several in-home visits last week, including head coaches from Oregon, Notre Dame and Oklahoma on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“I was trending, honestly, toward Oregon,” Heim said, “and then he didn't go. And so I'm turning back to Notre Dame. I'm not saying he ain’t gonna go to OU. But if you're gonna ask me right now, I'd say Notre Dame.
“But I may be flat-ass wrong.”
Although 247 Sports national director of football recruiting Steve Wiltfong offered his official prediction — a “crystal ball” — that Bowen would flip to OU (247 Sports reports that Wiltfong’s predictions are correct more than 91 percent of the time), there’s still a long way to go.
Bowen has been radio silent.
Heim suggests those hanging on every morsel of information swirling around Bowen might have to wait a little longer than Wednesday.
“Now, the other thing,” Heim said, “is that on Wednesday morning, when he gets a paper from OU, Oregon, Notre Dame and Texas A&M — he just signs one of them and then he’s done. He doesn't have to tell anybody. He just has to sign a piece of paper.
“I will say that the longer you wait and the more you hear, I think sometimes it makes your decision-making process harder. And then you combine that with the ability for some teams to throw around — whether they're real, imaginary or whatever — but to throw around some dollar figure amounts and the NIL piece, I think that makes it — that adds mud to the water, and it makes it a very difficult decision to make for a kid that's just turned 18.
"I think it's hard.”
