Five-Star Drayk Bowen Has Indiana in Top-5, Says Hoosiers 'Are Coming Around Big-Time'
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. – Drayk Bowen has a lot on his mind going into the second week of high school football practice in Indiana.
But not as much as he had last week.
Bowen, a 6 foot 2, 215-pound outside linebacker for Andrean High School in Merrillville who's the top-ranked player in the state in the 2023 class, cut his massive list of college choices to five on Monday.
Indiana, along with Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame and Auburn, are his finalists. The Hoosiers were the only Big Ten school on his list.
Bowen is the most highly recruited college football prospect from Northwest Indiana since James Aldridge, a 2006 Merrillville graduate. Aldridge, who was ranked as a five-star prospect then, had an injury-filled career with Notre Dame. Bowen is ranked as a five-star prospect in the 247Sports composite, and ranks No. 28 overall in the class.
Bowen said he winnowed his choices down so he could hyper-focus on his top schools. He said the amount of attention from coaches was overwhelming and he wanted to have his list down to a manageable number by Sept. 1, which is when coaches can start calling recruits directly again.
Indiana was one of the first to offer and Bowen said that IU coach Tom Allen is in charge of his recruiting. The fact that Bowen has made the Hoosiers one of his finalists shows how far IU has lifted its profile with in-state recruits. Indiana is ranked No. 22 nationally in 2022, the highest they've ever been listed.
The Hoosiers offered Bowen a scholarship in December of his sophomore year. Notre Dame offered him in February.
Bowen said Indiana is a place that he had to have on his list, because he also plays shortstop for the 59ers’ baseball team and plans on playing both sports in college.
All of his finalists have said he can play both sports. Bowen keeps in touch with Cameron Williams, a sophomore linebacker for the Hoosiers. Williams is a 2019 Andrean graduate.
“I think he (Allen) has really changed the culture of the program,” Bowen said. “They played Ohio State really close and then went to a bowl game. They did really well and I think a lot of people are going to be interested in them.
"I talked to the baseball coach (Jeff Mercer) last night and they said it’s a great time to be a Hoosier. They have a new basketball coach (Mike Woodson) and baseball has been doing really well. They are really trying to change the culture of the place.”
Andrean football coach Chris Skinner said it’s been an interesting offseason regarding Bowen’s recruitment.
“We knew it was coming because he’s a special talent,” Skinner said. “After the Notre Dame offer, things just exploded. It’s been crazy. To his credit, Drake is putting in the time to talk to the coaching staff. He really wants to get to know them.”
Bowen finished the 2020 season with 13 tackles for losses, three fumble recoveries, five sacks and interception and two blocked punts. He also rushed for 177 yards on 15 carries with five touchdowns.
Skinner hasn’t decided how much he’ll use him on offense. He’ll likely play linebacker in college.
Skinner said that Allen was one of the first coaches to identify Bowen as a high-level prospect.
Allen called Skinner when Bowen was a freshman and asked if he "could just pop” into school. According to Skinner, Allen didn’t have any particular player in mind that he wanted to see. Skinner told him to keep an eye on Bowen.
“I don’t know if that is how it started or what, but the fact that Tom Allen walks into your school and asks about your kids is pretty cool,” Skinner said.
Skinner, a Purdue graduate, said Allen has changed the face of the IU program and kids are noticing it. Zack Merrill, a 2019 Andrean graduate who played quarterback for Skinner, is a walk-on for the Hoosiers.
“Tom (Allen) has made a concerted effort to recruit Indiana kids,” Skinner said. “That’s important. For a long time, I don’t know if it wasn’t a priority or kids weren’t just going there or what. It’s better for the state when you have in-state schools that are getting national recognition.
"That’s how it keeps building. You turn the corner on the four-stars and then maybe these five-stars. It instills this sense of pride in Indiana football, and I think that’s cool.”
Skinner said that Allen is “personable, intense and knowledgeable. He’s the kind of coach you want to play for.”
According to Skinner, colleges really started to notice Bowen last year when Andrean played Merrillville and Bowen made an eye-popping sack after running over a running back to get to the quarterback. Scouts were at that game to watch Merrillville defensive back JoJo Johnson, who ended up at Notre Dame, and nose tackle Kenneth Grant, a 2023 defensive lineman who has offers from Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Bowen comes from an athletic family. He said his mother, Rebecca, was a collegiate swimmer at Richmond University for three years. His father, Jeremy Bowen was a physical education teacher in the Chicago Public Schools before moving into sales.
Drayk frequently posts videos on Twitter doing deadlifts and squats in his garage after practice.
Skinner said Bowen's discipline and dedication to getting better are one of-a-kind for someone his age.
Bowen is completely serious about Indiana, too.
Asked what stood about Indiana, Bowen said: “Their campus feels like home. They have a winning culture and they are coming around big-time. That’s a place where I’m going to grow and develop as a man, and they have good academics with the Kelley School of Business.”
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