Players who will define OU's season: Eli Bowen
Editor’s note: With Oklahoma’s 2025-26 season just a few weeks away, OUInsider will examine the players who will have the biggest impact on the outcome. This article centers around cornerback Eli Bowen, the seventh player to be featured in this series.
There were only a few bright spots for Oklahoma last season. Atop that list was the ascension of Eli Bowen as one of the best cornerbacks in the SEC.
His emergence was both unexpected and a complete game changer. He didn’t log a single snap in the first two weeks against Arkansas State and Tulane. By early October, he was nearly an every-down player for the Sooners and arguably the team’s best player in the secondary.
Bowen’s highlight reel included one of the biggest moments of the entire season — intercepting Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe in the second half of the Sooners’ 24-3 win.
He started each of the last eight games — averaging over 56 snaps per game — and he ranked fifth on the defense in total snaps. The advanced stats painted him as one of the most effective secondary players in the country, and his rapid growth changed the trajectory of the Sooners’ secondary.
Heading into this fall, the Sooners really need that growth to continue. Here’s an overview of Bowen’s outlook this season:
Career stats
Tackles: 30
Tackles for loss: 2
Interceptions: 1
2025 Outlook
It’s difficult to fully appreciate how well Bowen played in 2024.
Bowen wasn’t just one of the best freshmen in the SEC. He was simply one of the best defensive players. He ranked third on the Sooners in overall defensive grade (81.9), third in run defense grade (89.4) and had the highest coverage grade (78.7) among all OU defenders who logged at least 100 snaps. Opposing teams targeted him quite a bit — he defended 39 passes, the highest mark of any OU defender, and gave up a reception percentage of just 53%.
This fall, Bowen enters as one of the Sooners’ three most important defenders, and it’s not particularly close.
Part of that is simply his skills and proven production. But his value is also significant because of the cornerback room around him. With the departures of veterans like Kani Walker, Dez Malone and Woodi Washington, the cornerback room is now filled with a ton of underclassmen. Outside of Bowen, Gentry Williams and Jacobe Johnson are the only players who have logged at least 50 snaps at the collegiate level. The Sooners are going to need young players like Devon Jordan, Jeremiah Newcombe and Courtland Guillory to be ready for bigger roles.
There’s certainly a few question marks about the cornerback depth. But the good news is the Sooners have Bowen and Williams, who are the two no-doubt starters. If Bowen stays healthy, he’s in line to average 60 snaps per game and finish inside the top three in total snaps on OU’s defense. He’ll particularly be needed if Williams — who has missed 14 games the past two seasons — misses any time this season.
Bowen has showed he can be elite in basically every area. The one thing to watch will be whether opposing teams choose to test him. He’s listed at 5-foot-9, putting him at a height disadvantage against most SEC wide receivers. He did more than enough to hold his own last season, but there were moments where his lack of size was difficult to overcome.
But if Bowen takes another step forward, he’s an easy candidate to finish on an All-SEC team at the end of the year.
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