Notre Dame LB Drayk Bowen earns All-American Bowl’s Defensive Player of the Year Award
Andrean (Ind.) Merrillville linebacker and Notre Dame class of 2023 signee Drayk Bowen has racked up no shortage of accolades during his high school career. His newest honors may be his biggest.
The All-American Bowl — the prestigious postseason all-star contest that Bowen is playing in on Saturday — named Bowen its Defensive Player of the Year. He was also a finalist for the Player of the Award and Man of the Year Award.
Georgia’s CJ Allen, Clemson’s Vic Burley, Alabama’s Caleb Downs and Florida State’s Blake Nichelson were the other finalists for the award Bowen won. Past winners of the award include Jaelan Phillips (Miami Dolphins), Micah Parsons (Cowboys), and Clemson’s Bryan Bresee.
Earlier on Friday, Bowen was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Indiana. He also won those honors as a junior in 2021.
The list of Bowen’s notable accolades are quite long at this point — 2022 High school Butkus Award, 2x Gatorade Player of the Year, 2022 All-American Bowl DPOTY, 2022 All-American bowl participant, 2022 MaxPreps Indiana High School Football Player of the Year, 2021 Indiana 2A state champion, 2022 Indiana Mr. Football and Indiana Preps’ Player of the Year are the honors we know of but there are surely others.
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More details on Drayk Bowen
He performed at a high level on both sides of the ball this fall, recording 144 total stops, 19 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 5 passes broken up, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery and 1 blocked punt. Offensively, he had 242 carries for 1,784 yards and 26 touchdowns, plus 10 receptions for 228 yards and 3 scores.
Bowen’s high school career was nothing short of sensational. In 55 career games, he recorded 379 tackles (54 for loss), 16 sacks, 6 interceptions, 6 passes broken up, 6 fumble recoveries, 10 forced fumbles, 4 blocked punts and 3 blocked field goals. He also added a fumble recovery score and 2 interceptions returned for touchdowns across his career.
He didn’t play much offensively as a freshman and sophomore but did his final two seasons at the prep level. He ran 424 times for 2,969 yards with 49 touchdowns. He also caught 34 passes for 494 yards and 7 touchdowns.
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He also amassed 379 tackles and 59 total touchdowns. Oh, and he also was his team’s punter for the past three seasons.
Bowen led Andrean to an Indiana Class 2A state championship victory in 2021. In the finals win over Evansville (Ind.) Mater Dei, Bowen ran 24 times for 171 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also notched 6 tackles (3 for loss) and a sack.
Bowen had the game of his life in a semifinal matchup against Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Luers on Nov. 18, 2022, totaling 12 tackles (6 for loss) and 2 sacks, plus 34 rushing attempts for 358 yards and 5 touchdowns.
“Drayk is a phenomenal football talent,” said Pete Koulianos, head coach of Highland High School, a program that Andrean beat 42-7 this season. “He is so big, fast and physical; you have to game plan for him on both sides of the ball. He carries the ball 20-plus times a game and makes impact plays on defense and special teams.”
Drayk Bowen ranks as the nation’s No. 88 overall player and No. 7 linebacker according to the 2023 On3 Consensus. He signed with the Fighting Irish in December and will enroll at the school in less than two weeks.
