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Demarkcus Bowman a cautionary tale of 5-star recruits in transfer portal
By Andrew Olson
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Demarkcus Bowman was, once upon a time, supposed to be the next great Florida running back. Instead, Bowman will be heading to his fourth school to use his remaining eligibility. Bowman has entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal, per On3.
Bowman prepped at Lakeland, a high school that has been known at times for being a Gator pipeline. As a Class of 2020 prospect, he was rated 5-stars, the No. 3 running back and No. 20 prospect overall by the 247Sports Composite.
When Bowman committed to Clemson, Gator Nation was gutted. Seeing a Lakeland kid leave the state stung for the Florida faithful.
Dan Mullen has been regularly accused of “not trying” in various big-time recruitments. Bowman’s recruitment was not one of those instances.
Mullen kept pursuing Bowman until the very end of the prospect’s initial recruitment. Despite Mullen’s best efforts, Bowman followed through on his verbal pledge to play for Dabo Swinney’s program and signed with Clemson.
Only a few games into his freshman season at Clemson, Bowman entered the NCAA transfer portal for the first time.
On Oct. 3, during Florida’s homecoming game against South Carolina, Bowman told reporters that he planned to transfer to UF. For some Florida fans, landing Bowman was bigger news than beating South Carolina 38-24.
Bowman was being celebrated as Mullen’s next great transfer find. Mullen turned to transfers from the get-go of his Florida tenure, boosting his wide receiver room with Van Jefferson and Trevon Grimes before the NCAA had even launched the transfer portal. With the additions of Jonathan Greenard, Brenton Cox, Justin Shorter, Lorenzo Lingard and others, Mullen was being called the “portal king” years before Lane Kiffin.
Instead of being another Jefferson or Greenard or Shorter, Bowman was a former 5-star who did not live up to the hype.
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Bowman struggled to produce at Florida (and Clemson and UCF)
Four years removed from his Lakeland days, Bowman’s college career stats read like what was expected from him in a big game: 33 carries, 175 yards, 1 touchdown.
Bowman came to Florida after appearing in just two games for Clemson as a true freshman, logging 9 carries for 32 yards.
At UF, Bowman only saw carries against the Gators’ weaker competition: Florida Atlantic (4 rushes, 20 yards), South Florida (3 rushes, 33 yards), Vanderbilt (5 rushes, 21 yards) and Samford (2 rushes, 7 yards).
Following the coaching change from Mullen to Billy Napier, Bowman opted to go play for Gus Malzahn’s UCF program. The change of scenery did not produce the desired outcome, as he only logged touches against the Knights’ non-Big 12 opponents: Kent State (8 rushes, 46 yards), Boise State (1 rush, 11 yards) and Villanova (1 rush, 5 yards).
Late bloomer or bust? Bowman may be on last shot at CFB success
Since recruits have been given star ratings, there have been college football players who did not meet fan expectations. Bowman is far from the first, and won’t be the last.
Bowman began his college football career in 2020, a season the NCAA does not count against his eligibility due to COVID-19. He used a redshirt for 2022, the season he sat out after making his second transfer. While he has been out of high school for four years, the NCAA views him as only using two seasons of eligibility.
Bowman’s 5-star recruiting ranking will likely get him looks in the portal that other running backs with his career track record would not receive. Plenty of college football fans will be looking out for Bowman’s name in the headlines to see if he can make the most of one more college football opportunity,
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
