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As the British educational writer William Edward Hickson once said, if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again.
Well, that statement applies perfectly to Dan Mullen and the Gators as former five-star running back Demarkcus Bowman told GatorsTerritory today that he'll be transferring to the program.
Bowman was a prized commodity on the recruiting trail in the 2020 cycle as he checked in as the second-ranked running back on Rivals. A number of big-time schools were in the mix for his services, but Bowman decided to wrap things up relatively early in May 2019 and committed to the Clemson Tigers.
Even though he did not waver on his pledge and reported to Clemson back in June, his tenure in South Carolina did not last long given the recent death of his grandfather. This was an unfortunate loss, and it ultimately led to the Polk County native returning to the Sunshine State.
It is obviously a huge gain for UF to get Bowman in the fold.
The Gators have signed just one running back out of high school since the 2019 cycle, but Bowman is now the second five-star RB to join forces with them this year alone. Former Miami Hurricane Lorenzo Lingard, who received immediate eligibility to play with Florida this fall, transferred to UF back in January.
Also, this puts less urgency on Greg Knox and the rest of the staff to add a pair of running backs in next year's class. The plan was to take two players at the position in the 2022 cycle, but that may go down to one with the addition of Bowman.
As for what this means on the field, there's no doubt that Bowman brings All-American potential to Florida's RB corps.
Although he rushed for just 32 yards on nine carries in his short time with the Tigers, Bowman was a force to be reckoned with as a Lakeland Dreadnaught. In his three years as a varsity player at the school, the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder rushed for 5,081 yards and 71 touchdowns.
Bowman's production led Rivals National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and Rivals National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney to compare him to former Ohio State Buckeye J.K. Dobbins.
"Bowman has some incredible junior season film where he breaks big runs, outruns defenders, is tough to tackle in a phone booth and he has the ability to come out of the backfield and be a threat in the passing game," they wrote.
'Bowman runs with natural leverage, he reaches top speed quickly and he’s hard to tackle," Farrell added. "But with all of that, he is also a guy who can take an inside hand-off or reverse to the house and work out of the backfield in the passing game."
UF fans, in case you haven't seen Bowman's highlights, or want to watch his on-field dominance yet again, click the video at the bottom of the page.
Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.
