Former Penn State LB Manny Bowen Commits to Utah

The Utah Utes football team got an early Thanksgiving gift when former Penn State Nittany Lions linebacker Manny Bowen announced his commitment to transfer to Utah for his final season. Bowen sat out of his senior season at Penn State to focus on academics. He will graduate in December and is eligible to play immediately at Utah. He will be on campus for spring football at Utah.

Bowen, a Barnegat, N.J. native, was rated a four-star recruit coming out of high school and chose Penn State over the Alabama Crimson Tide and others. He played three seasons at Penn State, including as a true freshman. In his three seasons in State College, he appeared in 35 games and started in 21 of those games. Bowen recorded 134 career tackles, including 12.5 tackles for los and 3.5 sacks while at Penn State. His best season was as a sophomore in 2016 when he recorded 68 tackles for the season with 8.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. In the last season he played for Penn State as a junior in 2017, Bowen had 51 tackles with 3.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks in nine games.

This is a great addition for the 2019 Utah football team. Utah will have to replace two senior captains in Chase Hansen and Cody Barton. Utah’s 2019 starters at linebacker could both be transfers with Bowen and former BYU Cougars linebacker Francis Bernard, who has played well as Utah’s primary backup at the position this year (and a starter in three linebacker sets).

Welcome to Utah Manny Bowen!