Bowe Bentley's 'Maturity' is Allowing him to Play 'Confident' in First Spring at Oklahoma

NORMAN — In the days before this new era of player empowerment, there were non-negotiables a program must have in order to be in the running for the top-tier of talent out of high school.

Maybe now, those old trophies and championship banners don’t carry the same weight. With NIL and the transfer portal, the gap between the sport’s power programs and everyone else isn’t as wide as it used to be.

That wasn't the case for Oklahoma's new face in their quarterback room, Bowe Bentley.

"Every school I went on a visit, they were huge on history," Bentley said during Oklahoma's Spring Media Day on March 9. "Here, you look at the past quarterbacks, you see the statues, you see it's been done."

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To a fan base that lives and breathes Sooner football, that’s a melody they never get tired of hearing: a quarterback who welcomes the weight of history instead of running from it will always be embraced by a blue-blood program.

And it wasn't just OU's quarterback run of the 2000's or the championships won before the days of the BCS that appealed to Bentley. The history presented to him via Ben Arbuckle's short but impressive résumé gave Bentley more to hold onto.

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"The history of the coaches, to see what coach Arbuckle has done with past quarterbacks like Cam Ward," Bentley said. "That builds a lot of trust in me."

Bentley knows Arbuckle is fun, but demanding. He isn’t afraid to push himself to reach a level he has never hit before to meet Arbuckle’s standards and satisfy his coaches. Even the decision to come to Oklahoma, where an established quarterback in John Mateer had already returned, didn’t scare Bentley off.

"Everyone wants to play, but one of the biggest reasons I came here was John," Bentley said. "Being able to learn from him is going to be massive for me."

After winter workouts and a handful of spring practice sessions, Bentley has shown those leaps already. His coaches have taken note.

"Yeah, I think what I love about Bowe, and I loved it in the recruiting process from the first conversation we had on the phone, is just his maturity," quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski said last weekend.

"His parents did an unbelievable job of just creating ownership and maturity. And you don't usually see that at 18 years old, right? There's some different growth that goes on to get to some of the levels of maturity he's at."

Kuceyeski knows true freshmen have a tough job in their first offseason. They don't know any of the processes or standards on a day-to-day basis. Everything is new for them. He used that to praise backup quarterbacks Whitt Newbauer and Jett Niu for their second-year improvements.

But Bentley appears to be a tad different — in both his own abilities to self-scout and in remaining humble enough to accept tough critiques from coaches.

"I mean, he's in watching practice in the morning yesterday and he's finding two things that I didn't even see, little details that he can be a little bit better at," Kuceyeski said.

And Arbuckle? The fun but demanding offensive coordinator is quick to temper expectations. Not necessarily for a fanbase excited about their future at quarterback, but for the sake of the player.

"Something that's going to be important for him is don't get bogged down," Arbuckle said on Monday. "Because it being your first year with a new install and trying to learn everything new, it's really easy to start treading water out there and start fighting for your life."

It's a long process for a quarterback to enter college before they see the field. Mateer had to sit and learn behind Ward before sniffing extended play. Ideally, Bentley will have to do the same. But Arbuckle isn't worried about the ups and downs of a freshman's performance on the practice field.

"He's confident, chest up, he's loud, he's vocal and he stands in there," he said. "He rips it. The thing that's going to be most important for him is not getting bogged down. Continue the reps, the reps, the reps and take the coaching and never take anything personal and he does a great job at that."

Oklahoma Sooners, Ben Arbuckle — Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Regardless of Bentley’s status, his maturity, demeanor and natural talent give Oklahoma’s quarterback room a clear path to improvement. Kuceyeski demands that of what he calls "the greatest position room in the entire country."

Bentley will have a large hand in making that a reality. His play and improvements will go a long way in making Mateer better due to those demands.