Basketball

RECRUITING: Iowa State eying grad transfer for next year

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While there are still hopefully many weeks left in the Iowa State basketball season, the recruiting trail is constantly in motion and Steve Prohm’s staff has its eye on an immediately eligible graduate transfer who already has signed release papers in his possession. 

Darrell Bowie is a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward, had all intentions of competing during his senior season at Northern Illinois this year. However midway through the 2014-15 season, he suffered a serious shoulder injury on a Jan. 2 game vs. UC-Riverside that caused him to miss five games, rally an unsuccessful comeback when he eventually shut it down on Feb. 14.

“I tried coming back playing but it was tough so decided to just go ahead and have surgery,” Bowie told CycloneFanatic.com via text message on Friday night “I was going to comeback this year but I wasn’t ready yet and just decided to medical redshirt.

Bowie averaged 9.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game during his junior season.

Now, with his release papers in hand, Bowie is looking for a place to play his final season of college basketball. 

Iowa State is very much involved.  

Bowie said that he has officially heard from Creighton, TCU and Drake so far. It’s early though and there is reason to believe that larger basketball schools will jump into the mix.

Where Iowa State might have an advantage over any competitor is its Milwaukee connection, which happens to be Bowie’s hometown. Current Cyclones Deonte Burton and Jameel McKay hail from the city, as does assistant coach T.J. Otzelberger.

“Yeah I’m very familiar with those guys we play in open gyms together when everybody’s back home for the summer,” Bowie said. “Coach T.J. from Milwaukee to that’s who I’ve been communicating with.”

And then there is Bowie’s old Northern Illinois teammate and surging Cyclone, Abdel Nader.

“Me and Abdel are really cool,” Bowie said. “We keep in touch with each other. When he was here my freshman year I moved out my dorm room into his crib actually. I’m proud of him and it helps a lot especially having a coach and guys to feel comfortable around.”

Bowie said that he had intended on coming to Ames for a visit this weekend but a family emergency will keep him from coming to town.

“I want to be done with this process towards the middle and end of next month so I can continue to focus on graduating and getting ready for the next step,” Bowie said. 

CycloneFanatic.com will keep you updated on this developing story. 

@cyclonefanatic