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Defensive end Robert Bowers, Columbus, OH (Walnut Ridge) - 6-foot-6, 210 pounds
Ratings: 247sports (3 stars), ESPN (NR), Rivals (3 stars), Scout (3 stars)
Notable offers: Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisville, Cincinnati
MSU loves tall defensive ends, and Ohio end Robert Bowers will be the latest. He visited Saturday, the opening of fall camp, and it appears he gave his commitment there.
Congrats to the new commit Robert Bowers!
— Matt Sokol (@mattsokol9) August 3, 2013
According to our friend Mike Wilson at Scout, Bowers had 13 sacks and 66 tackles in his junior season last year.
Other tall defensive ends at MSU include Will Gholston, Joel Heath, Shilique Calhoun and incoming freshman Demetrius Cooper.
Bowers is commit No. 14 for the class. MSU needs some defensive linemen, so this fills a need, but more linemen are expected. The class should be somewhere in the low 20s when all is said and done.
According to Rivals, Wisconsin offered while Bowers was on the way to East Lansing (weird how that keeps happening). Rivals spoke to his high school coach.
"He plays with a real high motor, brings a lot of energy to the field, and he is like that all of the time. I know that is something that stood out to Michigan State when they evaluated junior film. He never gives up on plays, he is always working. He showed the same motor on offense with his blocking, and then he made a lot of plays on the film that he had. Lot of nice plays, big hits. When they watched game film of them, they could see that he played with consistency. It wasn't just a few highlight plays, and nothing else. He put games together and Michigan State rated him pretty high as a defensive end."
Looking at the film below, he moves well for a kid his size. The athleticism is obvious, and he's got some decent moves.
On the other hand, he can get pushed off easily at times. He needs to bulk up, obviously. The key will be being able to keep the athleticism and speed when he adds the weight. We'll see what Ken Mannie can mold here. I would expect a redshirt, but like the other tall ends, he's got a lot of upside (pun maybe intended).