ARLINGTON, Texas — In his sixth year, at his third school, Alan Bowman’s circuitous college career has taken him home.

The former Grapevine High School quarterback, who started as a bright-eyed, red-headed 14-year-old, is now the 23-year-old, super-senior starter at Oklahoma State. And at 11 a.m. Saturday in Arlington, a 25-minute drive from where he grew up, Bowman will quarterback OSU against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game.

“It’s been crazy, the whirlwind of college football,” Bowman said. “I could not be happier to be in Stillwater. This is obviously the best school I’ve been at. Just the love and support has been amazing.”

How Bowman got to Stillwater is a path worth retracing.

Bowman was a three-star quarterback prospect in the 2018 recruiting class. Among the quarterbacks in that class were Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, both in their third NFL seasons.

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Alan Bowman goes for Texas Tech to Michigan to Oklahoma State

Bowman enrolled at Texas Tech, where he played in 19 games from 2018-20. As a freshman, having won the starting job in Week 2, Bowman threw for 2,638 yards and 17 touchdowns against seven interceptions. He completed 69% of his passes.

Bowman has thrown for a career-high 2,808 yards this season, but his completion percentage (60%) and 10/11 touchdown-to-interception aren’t as pristine as his freshman numbers.

But Bowman said he’s focused on one stat: Wins. And after emerging as the victor of a three-quarterback competition, Bowman and the Cowboys won seven of their last eight games to finish 9-3 (7-2 Big 12).

Back at Texas Tech, Bowman’s freshman season ended prematurely. After absorbing a big hit at West Virginia, Bowman was hospitalized with a partially collapsed lung.

Bowman returned as Texas Tech’s starter in his sophomore season, but he redshirted after suffering a season-ending collarbone injury three games in. As a junior, Bowman started in six of his eight games played.

After that 2020 season, Bowman transferred to Michigan, where he played only mop-up minutes behind Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy. After two seasons at Michigan, where he attempted a grand total of 11 passes, Bowman transferred to Oklahoma State, where he’s now set to start in a Big 12 Championship Game.

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“It’s just full circle, right?” said Richard Bishop, Bowman’s offensive coordinator at Grapevine. “God had a plan in place for him before anybody saw it. Just kind of how it was meant to be.”

Even at age 14, Bowman would watch film for hours and see the same things as Bishop.

“When you have a quarterback like that,” Bishop said, “he makes you look really good.”

Almost 10 years later, Bowman’s maturity is one of his best assets.

“He’s older, he gets it,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “He’s been around a lot of different coaches, been around successful people. He’s smart enough to let that wear off on him and then be able to implement it in a new system and a new environment.”

Playing at Jerry World in Arlington won’t be a new environment for Bowman. Bowman played there in high school. He played there at Texas Tech against Baylor. And as a Dallas Cowboys fan, he’s been to AT&T Stadium a handful of times as a fan.

“We have a number of guys that fall into that category,” Gundy said.

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Running back Ollie Gordon II, from Fort Worth, is among them.

“I think that’ll benefit us,” Gundy said. “I would hope that it wouldn’t make the stage too big for them. I don’t really see that happening with our team. I think they’ll be fine. With (Bowman) being as old and mature as he is, he should be able to go out and function.”

Function? If the Cowboys are to upset the Longhorns, Bowman will have to flash.

“We’re not just excited to be at the Big 12 Championship Game,” Bowman said, “we’re wanting to win the Big 12 Championship Game.”

For Bowman, it would be a moment six years and three schools in the making.

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

Big 12 Championship Game

No. 18 Oklahoma State vs. No. 7 Texas

KICKOFF: 11 a.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (ABC)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Alan Bowman's 'whirlwind' career has brought OSU quarterback home