Bowden Jr., an explosive and versatile Kentucky game maker, was selected 80th overall by the club in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Bowden Jr., a three-year player for the 2017-19 Wildcats, appeared in 39 games with 25 starts during his career with the program, adding 206 carries for 1,530 yards and 13 touchdowns, adding 114 catches for 1,303 yards and six additional scores. . . Bowden Jr. also completed 38 of 79 pass attempts for 495 yards, three touchdowns and five interceptions.
As a senior in 2019, Bowden Jr. won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile player, as well as being recognized as the All-American First Team and team captain, after starting all 13 contests and leading He had the ball 185 times for 1,468 yards and 13 touchdowns, carrying 30 passes for 348 yards and one TD, while also going 6-2 after taking over quarterback duties for the last eight games of the program. Bowden Jr. set program records for most rushing yards (1,369) as a quarterback, most 100-yard rushing games for a quarterback (seven), while also posting a quarterback record. 233 rushing yards rushing against Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl. In addition, he was the only player on the FBS to lead his team in both rushing yards and receiving yards, while finishing fifth in the nation with an average of 160.7 all-purpose yards per game.
In his first two seasons with the program, Bowden Jr. led the team with a program record of 67 receptions in the sophomore year in 2018, after being named a member of the freshmen All-SEC Freshman Team of coaches in 2017 after posting a school record for most initial returns (37) and most initial return yards (869) in a single season by a freshman.
The Kittanning, Pennsylvania native, the 6-foot-1, 199-pound Bowden Jr. attended Liberty High School (Ohio) before transferring his junior season to Warren G Harding High School. He was a four-star prospect from all major recruiting services and was a Top-100 player in the 2017 class by ESPN and Scout.com after throwing 1,366 yards, running 2,277 yards and having 57 total touchdowns as a senior.
