Headin’ Home
Five Bison will return to their home state of Texas for Saturdayís game
When he told his friends during high school that he considering signing with North Dakota State to play football, Richard Bowman was told several reasons to reconsider.
“ They would ask me, ‘Why are you going to NDSU, that’s too far, there isn’t anything but Caucasians up there and they don’t know anything about football,’” Bowman said of the reaction he got from friends and teammates while mulling over the decision of come to NDSU. “I just want to go out there to prove to them that NDSU is for real.”
On Saturday, Bowman, a sophomore starting cornerback, will play in front of his family and friends for the first time in two years when the NCAA Division I-AA 11th-ranked Bison (3-0) travel to Nacogdoches, Texas to take on Stephen F. Austin (0-4).
Bowman is one of five Bison who hail from the Lone Star State.
“ It will be important for those guys,” Head coach Craig Bohl said of the Texas players returning home. “This is a chance for them to represent their school when they go back home.”
Wide receivers Gary Williams and Jamar Champ, along with defensive backs Nate Agbetola and Courtney Mitchell, also grew up in Texas.
All five of the players are from the Houston area.
“I spent 16 years recruiting in Houston and felt like we needed to expand our recruiting base,” Bohl said. “It is a good area for talent, so we kind of dug our heels in there and made some connections and recruited a couple players that have worked out well.”
Along with Bohl — who coached at Rice University in Texas from 1989-93 — making connections over the years, two Bison coaches are from there, something that both Agbetola and Bowman said was important in their decision to choose NDSU.
Wide receivers coach Reggie Moore spent four seasons as a coach at James Madison High School in Houston and defensive backs coach Willie Mack Garza is as Agbetola referred to him, “a legend in Texas.”
Prior to being hired at NDSU in 2005, Garza was an assistant at Division I-A Texas Christian University. Before that, he made his name on the playing field as a four-year starter for the University of Texas.
He was inducted into the Texas High School Hall of Fame in 2000 for his standout prep career in which he was a three-time all-state pick as a running back and defensive back.
With all the ties to this game, Stephen F. Austin may have to set aside a separate section for all the families of the NDSU players.
Bowman says that he expects over 40 friends and family to be at the game including his sister, who is a student at Stephen F. Austin.
Bowman will also be reunited with old friends on the field as four of his high school teammates play for the Lumberjacks.
One of them is talented wide receiver Tyrell Williams, who Bowman will likely cover the majority of the game.
Agbetola, a sophomore reserve cornerback, says he is more nervous for this game than playing in front of a full Fargodome.
“ There is going to be a lot on our mind when we go on the field because we have so many people in the stands,” Agbetola said. “When we play (at the Fargodome) there are a lot of people in the stands, but they are expecting the Bison to do well. When you go home, you have Mama in the stands expecting you to do well.”
Although both will try to concentrate on the game, the return home to see family is something Bowman and Agbetola are very anxious for.
Bowman has not been back since May, when he was there for a short stay before summer workouts started in Fargo.
“ It’s kind of tough but at the same time, it was expected,” Bowman said of being away from home. “It’s a sacrifice, but this here is going to be what gets you to the next level, I’ll do whatever it takes.”