Peyton Bowen Focused On Adding To Notre Dame's No. 1 Ranked Class
The first player to commit to Notre Dame in the Marcus Freeman era was Denton (Texas) Guyer safety Peyton Bowen. The newly minted five-star recruit continues to be pursued by several elite programs, but the standout safety remains committed to Notre Dame.
Bowen is hearing pitches from coaches and commits to other programs, but the one that resulted in him picking Notre Dame still rings loud and clear.
“It is the network, the connections with my recruits obviously,” Bowen said of his attraction to Notre Dame. “Since we have the No. 1 class, we text all the time in our group chat. My relationship with the coaches obviously. I have a great relationship with Coach (Chris) O’Leary and Coach (Marcus) Freeman. They are the people that I have trusted the most throughout this whole process.”
Some Irish fans are concerned with Bowen taking visits to other programs in the spring, and rumors constantly swirl around him, but Bowen is focused on selling Notre Dame to other top prospects.
“If you want to come play for a national contender, we have the No. 1 class,” he began. ”You will get a great education. We will set you up for life after football and we have the most draft picks in NFL history.”
Notre Dame will lose veterans Houston Griffith and DJ Brown after this season, and there is plenty of unproven talent behind those veterans and All-American Brandon Joseph, who could also be off to the NFL after this season.
“(Coach Freeman’s) pitch is mostly that you’ll be the man of this defense, you’re going to be the signal caller, stuff like that,” he said. “(The team) doesn’t have good depth at safety right now. Other than Brandon Joseph, who is an impact starter, there are spots open. No spots guaranteed, you have to earn it but the opportunity will be there.”
Despite much consternation regarding the solidity of his commitment to Notre Dame, Bowen's focus is on continuing to build a strong bond with his future teammates in South Bend.
“Drayk Bowen, Jaden Greathouse, Adon Shuler and whenever I’m up there, I talk to Preston (Zinter) and Keon (Keeley) a lot,” he said of his relationship with other Irish commits. “We have our own group chat and I talk a lot with Christian Gray as well. Drayk and I play video games together. He’s that guy.”
Bowen mentioned Notre Dame's No. 1 ranked class multiple times, and he is working with his future classmates on making that class even more dynamic.
“Me and Braylon (James), we have our secret target,” Bowen said. “We will see how it pans out.”
For a player who has his intentions questioned consistently, Bowen has continued to recruit and build deeper relationships with Notre Dame. His pulling back of the curtain gave some insight into the pitches that sold him on the Irish. He continues to solidify his commitment.
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