Bakersfield College’s starting quarterback, Jacob Bower, who led the Renegades through a 12-1 season during the fall, will not be returning to BC.
Bower was recruited by the University of Tulsa’s assistant head coach Gus Malzahn after one of their quarterback recruits decided not to commit.
Tulsa’s head coach Todd Graham said, “We’re excited to have Jacob join our football program. He gives us three quarterbacks (senior David Johnson, sophomore Clark Harrell) that we really feel good about going into spring drills looking to replace Paul Smith,” who graduated from Tulsa in December.
Bower received a full scholarship to Tulsa and will be competing with Johnson and Harrell for the starting quarterback position during Tulsa’s spring drills, which start March 11.
Graham said, “I think this offense and the way we throw vertically down the field really excited Jacob.
“Jacob has all the intangibles that we’re looking for in a quarterback,” said Graham. “He’s a mature kid who is big, strong, and has a great arm.”
Tulsa led the nation in total offense this past season with an average of 543.9 yards per game.
Bower is joined by his wife, BC volleyball star Rachel Cox, who has been recruited to play volleyball for Tulsa Community College.
The newlyweds were married Nov. 1, 2007.
According to Bower, he wanted to stay and play another year at BC, but he felt that it “was too big of an opportunity to pass up.”
Bower set several BC single-season records last season. He completed 189-of-312 passes and totaled 35 touchdowns.
Despite being a little homesick, he is excited about the opportunity. “I loved Bakersfield. It was the best time of my life,” said Bower.
BC head coach Jeff Chudy is excited for Bower as well.
Chudy said, “It’s a great opportunity and that’s what our job is. Our job is to help guys and get them to the next level, academically and athletically, and we feel like we’ve done that with him. We gave him a great opportunity and he took advantage of it and he’s on his way to being successful.
“I think for us it’s a mark on our program to be able to help a guy to get to the Division I level and get to a school where offensively they’re probably the most prolific offense in Division I football right now, or they were last year, leading five offensive categories out of 117 schools,” continued Chudy.
BC quarterback Joseph Maldonado, from South High School, will be competing with the incoming freshmen to fill the starting quarterback position.
Chudy expects to have “five or six guys competing for the position in the summertime.”
“Obviously, [Bower’s] a guy who broke a lot of our school records, and was a great competitor, and a good leader, and as a quarterback led our offense to do some things that we haven’t done in a long time. He’s certainly going to be missed, but that’s the nature of what we do,” said Chudy.