Who's that in the secondary? It's Zack Bowman
Giants DB Zack Bowman is stretched by assistant and conditioning coach Markus Paul during practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on July 23, 2014. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams, Jr.
Zack Bowman is used to having trouble getting noticed. His father served in the military, and Bowman wound up spending his high school years in Anchorage, Alaska. Big-time college football recruiters don't leave too many footprints in the snow up there.
"It's very good competition," the veteran cornerback said on Friday at Giants training camp. "They just don't get a lot of pub."
What little did come his way, Bowman was able to take advantage.
"We had a guy by the name of Tui Alailefaleula," Bowman said. "He was a defensive end and a very talented kid, Very powerful and just about every school in the country wanted him. They would come watch him play and I'd go out there and be on the same side as him and we'd both be out there making plays. You get noticed when you are making plays. When teams were watching him, they noticed me and things took off from there."
Bowman wound up playing at Nebraska and his first six NFL seasons for the Bears. Alailefaleula, parenthetically, played for both the Giants and Jets.
Now Bowman is in a Giants secondary that is getting a lot of attention. Very little of it so far has been put on him. The additions of Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Walter Thurmond III grabbed the headlines.
Just like in Alaska, Bowman is just trying to make his plays and get noticed while the focus is on others.
"Names are just names," he said. "A lot depends on what team you come from and how your team did. We brought in Walter Thurmond and DRC who are both phenomenal players and both of their teams went to the Super Bowl. My hat goes off to those guys, but at the same time as a competitor you feel like you're as good as they are."
So far he's looked as good. He's forced three fumbles, something his former team, the Bears, were known for. And he is trying to bring the little tips that he picked up in Chicago to New York where they can be used to force turnovers.
"I'm trying to bring the same mindset that we had in Chicago," he said. "Whether it's an interception or a caused fumble, just try to get the ball out someway somehow so we can get Eli [Manning] the ball and they can put it in the end zone and we can win games."
