Evaluating the current roster, Sooners Wire profiles the current players, with safety Billy Bowman up next.
Oklahoma enters this season with a hunger for more. That begins on defense, where a team with talented pieces at all levels will look to put it together and more closely resemble a defense with Brent Venables’ imprint.
One of the best players of that defense is Billy Bowman, a former four-star athlete who struggled his first year to find his home but has since made his calling as a safety in this defense.
He received All-Big 12 honorable mention recognition from the league and 9 starts across 11 games played. He finished sixth on the team with 60 tackles and added 2.0 tackles for loss, three interceptions, and five pass breakups.
His athleticism and football IQ stand out on tape, and with a year of this defense under his belt, he should be even more of a playmaker roaming the back end. Bowman showed a knack for diagnosing plays and positioning himself to be where he needs to be, whether via the run or pass.
His presence as a junior should also allow him to be a leader in the secondary along with [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag] so that he can mentor guys like five-star safety [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag], who enrolled early for spring ball.
Billy Bowman’s range is wild. Dude was WIDE open, and Bowman intercepts it. #OUDNA #littlebrother pic.twitter.com/c3sd56sWm8
— Sooners Insider (@SoonersInsider) March 13, 2023
Preseason Player Profile
Hometown: Denton, Texas
Ht: 5-10
Wt: 194 lbs
Class in 2023: Junior
247Sports Composite Ranking
Four-star | No.2 ATH | No. 5 prospect in Texas
Career Stats
| Tackles | Def Int | Fumbles | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | School | Conf | Class | Pos | G | Solo | Ast | Tot | Loss | Sk | Int | Yds | Avg | TD | PD | FR | Yds | TD | FF |
| *2021 | Oklahoma | Big 12 | FR | DB | 8 | 16 | 5 | 21 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |||
| *2022 | Oklahoma | Big 12 | SO | DB | 11 | 37 | 23 | 60 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 11 | 3.7 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Career | Oklahoma | 53 | 28 | 81 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 3 | 11 | 3.7 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||||
Bowman enters spring ball as an unquestioned starter for Oklahoma. The competition for who takes the field next to him at the other safety spot is more compelling.
Still, Bowman is locked in as a starter and looks to take his performance up a notch. With an improving defense around him and an entire year of experience within the system, Bowman and the Sooners will make big improvements on defense in 2023.