DB in Oklahoma football Billy Bowman will be back for the Sooners’ 2024 SEC debut season.
For Oklahoma football, Friday was a mixed bag of news, typical of this time of year when transfers out of college football programs and signings from recruiting classes dominate the headlines.
Dillon Gabriel revealed that he would be playing football for the Oregon Ducks in the upcoming season less than a week after making it known that he would not be declaring for the NFL Draft but would instead be using the transfer portal to play his final season of college eligibility. Another Sooner who was instrumental in Oklahoma’s season-long success, star linebacker Danny Stutsman, made the announcement that he was leaving to advance his career earlier this week.
But player departures aren’t the only story this week. Billy Bowman Jr., a junior defensive back, announced on Friday that he will be returning for his senior season in 2024, which was very good news for Sooner supporters.
That is great news for the Oklahoma defense, which improved significantly from the Sooners’ disappointing 2022 campaign but still needs to improve to successfully navigate the very competitive SEC.
This season, Bowman has been a mainstay in the back end of the OU defense, and his return experience will be crucial in a secondary that is stacked with talented but inexperienced players.
Next season, the Sooners will be without redshirt senior Reggie Pearson (who is no longer eligible) at safety and senior Key Lawrence (who has entered the transfer portal).
This season, the 5-foot-10-inch, 192-pound safety registered three tackles for loss and 62 tackles, which tied for second on the team. More importantly, though, he was second in the country with six interceptions—three of which resulted in touchdowns—and a national record 238 interception return yards.
This season, Bowman was selected to the All-Big 12 First Team and the CBS Sports/247Sports All-America First Team.
Thirteen Sooners have left the team since the regular season ended, and nine of them have announced their departure since Monday, Dec. 4.
LB and QB Dillon Gabriel have moved to Oregon. NFL Draft pick Danny Stutsman, transfer Kelvin Gilliam, DL Marcus Major (RB), Daylan Smothers (transfer), and DB Lawrence Key (transfer), Database The following players have transferred: RB Reggie Grimes (out of eligibility), OL Savion Byrd, OL Nate Anderson Walker Tawee, TE Marcus Hicks, DL/OL, Jason Llewellyn, and WR D.J. Graham are all transfers.
Within: Database DL Spencer Brown (transfer from Michigan State), Billy Bowan (returning).
