He might be the only homeschool high school football player to ever make it to K-State
Without being delivered in Bill Snyder Family Stadium, he was born about as close to Kansas State as possible.
Derek Bowman entered the world May 28, 1998 at the presently named Ascension Via Christi Hospital, across the street from where he would one day play college football after taking one of the most unique paths in Wildcats history.
Bowman had one of the most illustrious high school careers of any player on K-State’s current roster. He had more rushing yards and touchdowns than any other KSU running back, including one of the Big 12’s best: starter James Gilbert.
Bowman ran for 5,404 yards and 118 touchdowns during his career with the Manhattan Eagles, an 8-man team made up of homeschooled players from across the Manhattan area.
The team wasn’t part of the Kansas State High School Activities Association. Instead, it competed in the Kansas Christian Athletic Association. The Eagles faced small, private schools in Kansas and surrounding states and even the Wichita Warriors, a team similar to the Eagles but based out of Wichita.
As Bowman put it, “The competition we had was little to none.”
Bowman’s Hudl page lists him as a running back, safety, quarterback, cornerback and punter. His film shows him plowing through tacklers, looking like a Heisman Trophy candidate. In 8-man football, he played almost every position on the field.
His high school coach, Justin Marteney, said he believed Bowman was the best player in the conference, and that came from his family heritage.
“A lot of our game plan revolved around Derek,” Marteney said. “We ended up moving him to quarterback because we needed him to have the ball in his hands every play. He was just a gifted runner.”
But even that almost wasn’t enough.
Although Bowman was right there in K-State’s backyard, the Wildcats’ coaches never came to any of his games. He went to camps to be seen and was one one-hundredth of a second away from being turned away.
Bowman was at a K-State senior camp and spoke with Taylor Braet, K-State’s recruiting director and special teams quality control coach. He asked what time he needed to run in the 40-yard dash to make it as a Wildcat.
“A 4.65,” Braet told him.
That was a time Bowman had never hit. When he crossed the line, the timer read 4.65 exactly.
“I feel like a big part of it was God,” Bowman said.
On National Signing Day, Bowman said, he got a call from then-KSU special teams analyst Sean Snyder. Bowman said he never expected that call. At camps, coaches never showed interest in him outside of, “Hey, keep doing your thing,” Bowman said.
“I remember Sean Snyder saying, ‘We want you,’ “ Bowman said. “I said, ‘Hell yeah.’ “
He was already planning to stay in Manhattan and get his kinesiology degree from K-State. In games during 2017, he was the “Y” in “F-A-M-I-L-Y,” with his shirt off in the front row of the K-State student section.
Now he was going to do that and play on the football team he grew up dreaming about.
“When I ran out onto the field for the first time was probably my high point,” Bowman said. “I grew up here. I grew up going to the games and watching those guys run onto the field. Now I’m the guy doing it. It’s pretty surreal.”
K-State officials believe Bowman is the only Wildcats football player in the past decade to come from a homeschool high school program — and potentially the only one ever.
Former K-State scholarship quarterback Collin Klein was homeschooled until he reached high school, when he played for Loveland High in Colorado.
Bowman said there was always pressure to enroll in a couple of hours at Manhattan High down the road and play for one of the best programs in Class 6A. When he talked with K-State’s coaches, he said, they told him that homeschooling wouldn’t affect his recruitment, so he stayed put.
He said that decision is almost always one of the first questions people have for him when they learn he was homeschooled. The stereotype surrounding homeschooled kids is one he is constantly working on beating.
“Homeschoolers are not as under a rock as you would think,” Bowman said. “The stereotype is that we are these awkward, farm kids. If anything, the big culture shock was moving to 11-man football.”
Bowman isn’t on scholarship at K-State. He isn’t a starter for the Wildcats and may never be. He is listed as a defensive back, but if he sees significant playing time in his career, it will likely come on special teams.
Every year, walk-ons leave the program because of the rigors of being a student-athlete without the payoff of free tuition. Bowman said he isn’t planning to quit anytime soon.
He said he looks up to players like junior Brock Monty, who is also listed as a defensive back but is arguably K-State’s most valuable special teams player.
“I’ve got a passion for special teams,” Bowman said. “I’m trying to be one of those guys that can contribute in that way. I’ve got my role I can play.”
Bowman was practically born a Wildcat. As a senior, he could have thrown a football from the hospital in which he was born to the stadium parking lot across the street.
He said he knows the opportunity he has isn’t one that many homeschooled athletes receive. Bowman got on the field for one drive this season, late in the Wildcats’ 52-0 win over Bowling Green.
He said it was incredible just to touch the field.
“When I got out there, I just kind of looked around for a second and thought, ‘Dang, this is really it,’ ” Bowman said. “ ‘ I’m really here.’ “