Grant Bowden is one of the best punters at the college level, averaging 39.4 yards per punt last year and having almost a third of his 
punts downed inside the 20 (18/60). There are few punters at this level who affect the game like Grant does, as he makes a habit of flipping the field with his game changing punts. He was able to showcase himself this past weekend with a stellar performance against Monmouth, which led to him claiming Big South Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Grant spoke with us about the achievement, crediting the entire unit for the award:
“It’s definitely awesome to get the recognition this early in the season, I think it’s a reflection on how the team is clicking better this year.”
Because we take punters for granted, we forget just how much field position a punter like Bowden gains for the team over the course of an entire game. Grant had one punt in particular downed at the one against Monmouth, and it ended up resulting in a safety. When asked about how it feels when he gets a chance to impact the game like this, he once again shifted focus to the rest of the unit. “It feels pretty good, each time I go on the field I just try to put our defense in the best position. I owe a lot of it to the gunners, Kenny Scott, Chris Robinson, D.J. Abnar, everyone is doing a great job limiting the field position of the opponents”
Since Grant is a pro at regularly pinning opponents inside their 20, I asked him if he has any tricks. “I just try and shorten my steps to pop it up a bit more, so when it bounces it is more controlled.” Sounds simple enough.
This being Bowden’s senior season, he shared with us that he’d like to be an Academic All-American and make Big South Conference 1st team as he exits the program. He told us “It would be amazing to bring together the academic piece and the athletic piece, that and 1st Team All Big South, and my biggest goal, to just put our team in a position to win each and every game”
We’d like to thank Grant for the interview and congratulate him on his BSC Player of the Week honors.
Nice article on a nice kid. Hope he makes All American.