How Peyton Bowen Battled Through Injuries and is Now Thriving for Oklahoma

NORMAN — Two years ago, Peyton Bowen looked like he was building for a major breakout.

Then a freshman, the former 5-star prospect from Corinth, TX, showed steady improvement through the early part of the 2023 season.

While nagging injuries didn’t keep him out of any games, they did severely limit his effectiveness.

Now, two seasons later, Bowen is finally starting to live up to the hype that accompanied his signing with the Sooners.

“I’m playing very at ease,” Bowen said. “I’m able to communicate to other people and tell them what to do instead of just so focused on what I’m supposed to do and worried about if I’m doing right and stuff. So I feel like I’m way more free and able to help out my teammates.”

Bowen and the Sooners take on Temple at 11 a.m. Saturday in Philadelphia.

Read more: Oklahoma vs. Temple

Through two games, Bowen has eight tackles and a quarterback hurry.

He had six tackles in last weekend’s 24-13 win over Michigan, one off his career high.

Like his freshman season, Bowen played in every game last season but was far from 100 percent as he dealt with turf toe, a sprained ankle and other lower-body injuries.

That’s why the decision was made for Bowen not to participate in spring practices.

“I’m learning throughout the years that sometimes you have to sit that week and let your body heal,” Bowen said in preseason camp. “Now that I know that? Resting that sprain was a really good decision for me. I still had my foot lingering. Now, I feel 100 percent.”

Sooners coach Brent Venables said battling through those injuries “created a different sense of purpose” for Bowen.

“The game has slowed down tremendously for Peyton,” Venables said. “And he’s more and more comfortable from a leadership and a communication standpoint, and he’s able to see things just from a different lens just by going on year three.”

The Michigan game was the first game of Bowen’s career where he played every defensive snap, according to Pro Football Focus.

Bowen said the Sooners can’t take their foot off the gas after an impressive showing against Michigan.

“We’ve got to take these guys seriously or we’re going to their house and we’re going to (expletive) around and find out,” Bowen said. “... We got a target on our back being at this university, so we got to take every opponent as they’re going to give us their best show and we’re going to give them ours.”

Bowen is confident the Sooners can keep building on that momentum instead of regressing like they did late in 2023 after having success early.

“The seniors now, who were sophomores in my class, all experienced that,” Bowen said. “So we know that, honestly, winning is harder to learn from than losing, and so it’s harder to go 12-0 than going 0-12.

“We just definitely have to keep rolling the next game.”

If that momentum continues to build, Bowen is likely to be a significant reason.

“He’s had a great humility, maturity about him,” Venables said. “He’s always been humble, but more so I think he showed up with more or a purpose like, ‘All right, man, I’m running out of time.’”