2023 Notre Dame LB Commit Drayk Bowen Recaps Latest Visit
2023 Notre Dame linebacker commit Drayk Bowen made his 97th visit to campus over the weekend as the Irish hosted its summer BBQ event.
If you’re really counting, it might not be 97 trips to South Bend, but Bowen has been a frequent visitor over the last 13 months and has become a significant recruiter for Notre Dame.
“It was fun,” Bowen told ISD. “It felt good to get back to see the coaches and some of the commits. I spoke to some of the other recruits who aren’t committed yet.”
Notre Dame’s visitors quickly learned it wasn’t going to be a normal visit as they were thrown into teams and started competing in several backyard games.
“I know my team was definitely competing a lot with Coach (Al) Golden,” said Bowen. “I know CJ’s (Carr) team was competing because Cam (Williams) and I were talking a lot. It was really more competitive than we thought it would be, especially with the coaching playing. It was competitive and fun.”
What were the games? Well, just about everything you can imagine for a BBQ.
“It was dodgeball, trash pong, home run derby, closest to the pin in golf, three-point challenge and then Irish ball, which was like ultimate frisbee,” recalled Bowen. “There was a trivia game and cornhole.”
Bowen also used the day to do some recruiting as several of Notre Dame’s top targets were on campus. 2023 Baylor quarterback commit Austin Novosad was Bowen’s primary target as he made sure to let the four-star prospect know he was wanted at Notre Dame.
“I spent a good amount of time at the end with Austin and I really liked him,” Bowen stated. “He’s a good dude and hopefully we can get him. Austin would be a really good pickup for our class because we need a quarterback and he’d fit in great with everybody. He’s a Notre Dame kid.
“Anthony Speca was on my team with Owen Wafle, so I got to talk to him a little bit. He seemed like a cool kid. He was competitive with everything and he’d fit in well in the 2024 class.”
When it comes to actual football, Bowen will look to lead Andrean (Ind.) to back-to-back State Titles this fall, but he’s also ready to prove some of his doubters wrong.
“I’m excited and I’ve been working really hard on some of the things I need to improve on from last year,” said Bowen. “I feel I’ve gotten way better in that aspect in what some have said I needed to improve on. I have to go out and prove I’m pretty athletic and we’ll see what happens.
“I feel good about working on what I needed to improve. I’m excited to show what I’ve worked on during the offseason.”
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