Local tight end Jackson Bowers enjoys hometown visit
Jackson Bowers didn’t have to travel far for his first unofficial visit. The tight end from Mesa Mountain View waited only hours after the NCAA recruiting dead period ended on June 1 to take a visit to Tempe.
“It was amazing,” Bowers said. “I’ve been dying to go somewhere, so it was great to get out to ASU … They took me to the locker room, and I did a little photoshoot. I got to meet a lot of the coaches – Herm wasn’t there, but I think I’ll be able to meet him in like three weeks.”
Bowers is a 6-foot-5, 230-pound tight end in the class of 2023 who currently holds nine offers from Pac-12 foes Washington, Utah, Cal and Arizona, and even schools further away like Michigan State and Georgia Tech.
While ASU was his first unofficial visit, Bowers will be making a trip to visit the University of Utah on June 7 and hitting BYU a day later. After that, Bowers said he’ll be back in Tempe before his junior season starts. Despite all that, Bowers said that ASU, Utah and Washington are the trio of schools recruiting him the hardest.
And the Sun Devils have made an impression on Bowers following his visit on Tuesday.
“I just love how the (ASU) coaches like to have a relationship with their players and how they’re improving every year,” Bowers said. “It’s home. It’s right down the street. I wouldn’t have to leave my family if I went there.”
Perhaps his favorite part of the visit, though, was when he got to suit up in an ASU uniform and have his own little photo shoot in the Sun Devils’ facility.
“I liked that a lot, putting on all the gear,” he said. “I got this really cool one where I spun the ball, and it spun perfectly around the middle of my legs – so that was pretty cool.”
Another big part of Bowers’ ASU visit was finally getting to meet his main recruiter in person. Tight ends coach Adam Breneman has been pursuing Bowers hard for the last few months and, on Tuesday, got to show the big man around the Sun Devils’ campus and facilities.
“He’s a funny guy who likes to make jokes. I like that about him. He likes to talk about, and he’s a young dude, so he gets where I’m coming from and the recruiting process,” Bowers said of Breneman. “He’s basically just a friend who’s a coach.”
At one point during the visit, Breneman brought Bowers to the ASU tight ends room and showed him film of what the Sun Devils do offensively and how ASU may use Bowers’ 6-foot-5 frame if he decided to suit up in the maroon and gold.
“He was just basically telling me how I should be able to play every single position,” said Bowers, who played quarterback for most of his childhood. “Like I should be able to play running back, being wildcat, play quarterback and tight end, run it up the gut. Basically, just be a hybrid and play everything.
“He was showing me some plays where the tight end gets a handoff from wildcat or option plays. He was just showing me how I should be able to play everything.”
In eight games for Mountain View as a sophomore Bowers caught 25 passes for 330 yards and four touchdowns.
“Basically, I can do everything. I can block. I can catch,” Bowers said. “I can make 50-50 balls more like I get it every time.”
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