STILLWATER — All things considered, Justin Bowick’s rise to Power Conference football has happened fairly quickly.
A 6-foot-5 receiver from Atlanta, Bowick said it wasn’t until his junior year of high school that his love switched from basketball to football. He had to sit out his junior season of high school because of a transfer rule, and then he tore his Achilles as a senior after just four games.
That left him with a lone offer to Eastern Illinois, and he took it. His first year at Eastern Illinois was 2022. In 2025, he was playing in the Big Ten. Now, he’ll star as a Cowboy.
“I feel like I’ve always had that confidence, knowing I was pretty good at football,” Bowick said. “It’s just built up over time the more work I put in. It’s just built more confidence.”
Playing under Bret Bielema, Bowick led Illinois with five touchdown catches in 2025. For (a brutal) reference, the Cowboys had just seven touchdowns through the air last season in total.
Although he had a solid amount of scores, Bowick ranked fourth on the team in receptions and yardage with 22 for 265. New OSU coach Eric Morris said in January that Bowick’s role will be different in Stillwater than it was in Champaign.
“I just think he’s a guy that’ll really blossom into a really major NFL-type guy that they’re gonna want to see next year in this system,” Morris said. “If you’ve watched what he was able to do in an offense that isn’t even close to using him the way we’re gonna do it. Super excited about him.”
Not even done with spring ball, Bowick said he can already feel some differences in how he’s being used.
“Most definitely, I see it already,” Bowick said. “I’ve been loving this offense. It’s very explosive, and I feel like it fits my play style very well.”
In two years at Eastern Illinois, Bowick caught 48 passes for 749 yards and eight touchdowns.
His most impressive season in college thus far, though, was at Ball State.
He played in just four games with the Cardinals in 2024, but boy, were they impressive. He caught 20 passes for 383 yards and three touchdowns before redshirting. His final two games at Ball State were an eight-catch, 171-yard performance against Miami (OH) and a seven-catch, 148-yard performance against Buffalo. He had more receiving yards in four games at Ball State than he had in a dozen games at Illinois.
“Justin Bowick, man, big, strong, athletic guy,” receivers coach Nick Edwards said. “A lot of tools, and I’m excited to just go ahead and work with him every day. He played at Illinois, played at Ball State, did a great job there. There’s things that we gotta refine. He’s been great with the coaching. He’s a smart individual. We have high, high expectations for him. But I love where he’s at right now on practice, what, 11 or 10. But he’s doing a great job for us vertically down the field, over the middle. He’s a complete receiver, as well.”
The Cowboys’ top three options at receiver at this point appear to be some combination of Bowick, North Texas transfer Wyatt Young and Wake Forest transfer Chris Barnes.
Of that trio, Bowick is the only one who didn’t have a tie to the OSU staff coming in. Young was with Morris and Co. at UNT, while Barnes made the move from Wake Forest along with Edwards. So how did a kid from Atlanta who has spent his whole college career in Big Ten territory end up in Stillwater? He said after seeing what Morris has done, he wanted to be a part of it.
Bowick noted that having guys like Barnes and Young on the field with him will only help all three of them, as defenses won’t be able to commit a ton of resources to any one guy.
What will also help is having the nation’s leading passer slinging the rock around.
“Drew (Mestemaker) is very good, I’m not gonna lie,” Bowick said with a smirk. “He puts it on the money. He’s a good facilitator on the field, makes sure I know what I’m doing. We communicate and everything just goes good.”
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
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