Alabama? Clemson? UNC? Jacolbe Cowan isn’t sure about college but wants a state ring
By Langston Wertz Jr.
Jacolbe Cowan has a motto for his last season at Providence Day School: “Leave no doubt.”
Cowan, 6-foot-5 and nearly 270 pounds, is a highly recruited defensive lineman. 247Sports ranks him No. 15 nationally among all defensive tackles and the 164th best recruit in America.
The Observer ranks Cowan in the top 15 in North Carolina.
He has more than 30 Division I offers from national powers (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State) and regional favorites (North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina). But what Cowan doesn’t have is a state championship ring.
And there’s where his motto comes from.
“This is my senior year,” he said. “So I’ve got to go out with a bang ... which means at the end of the game, I want to be that person they say, ‘Man, he left it all on the field. He didn’t take a play off and just dominated the whole game.’ Hopefully, I can be that guy who dominates and leads us far.”
Cowan entered ninth grade at Providence Day with major expectations and a Georgia offer before his freshman year even started. Truth is, he’d been tracking as a high-major recruit since his early middle school days when he regularly played with kids two years older, in part because he was big, but he was naturally gifted.
And he’s been good at Providence Day, making All-America, all-conference and all-state teams — including recording 36 tackles and 10 sacks in 2018 — while earning invitations to many of the prerequisite off-season camps for elite players. Last summer, for example, Cowan attended invitation-only camps put on by Nike (The Opening) and Adidas (Rivals’ 5-star) that are reserved for the best of the best.
Cowan has also accepted an invitation to play in the Under Armour All-American game in Orlando later this year.
“You can’t do the things that he does,” Providence Day coach Adam Hastings said, “without being a combination of really good natural talent, understanding of how to play with great technique and just a great passion for the game.”
Hastings said, for such a big teenager, Cowan’s reaction time is like one of a kid nearly half his size. Combined with his bulk and strength, Cowan’s movement at the snap makes him hard for offensive guards and tackles to contain. And he’s not the only one like that on Hastings’ roster. Senior Kedrick Bingley-Jones is another top 150 national recruit. He’s committed to North Carolina.
Cowan is “a big kid,” said rival coach Drew Witman, who’s at Charlotte Country Day School. “So at this level, to be that big, he’s going to be a problem for anybody ... And he’s pretty durn athletic, too. You’d like to double-team him, but with two of them (Cowan and Bingley-Jones), you can only double-team one.”
With talent like that — Providence Day also has two-time all-state quarterback Cody Cater — Cowan thinks the Chargers can make a run at that state championship he covets so much.
Providence Day won it all in 2011, but the Chargers’ faithful have watched in recent years as Charlotte Christian has emerged as a regional powerhouse. Christian has won the past two Division I state championships while Cowan’s teams have produced only one winning record during his time there.
And that’s what “leave no doubt” is all about. Cowan is serious about leaving a legacy at his school.
He said there’s no better way to do that than to be the last team standing.
“My high school career, I haven’t been able to beat (Christian) yet,” he said. “We were this close last year. (This year,) we’ve been grinding as a team. Everybody’s focused and everybody’s bought into the team, specifically the young guys, not being afraid to compete with older guys ... Everybody’s got a positive mindset.
“I think we’ll do some big things this year, and hopefully I can leave with a ring.”
By Langston Wertz Jr.
Jacolbe Cowan has a motto for his last season at Providence Day School: “Leave no doubt.”
Cowan, 6-foot-5 and nearly 270 pounds, is a highly recruited defensive lineman. 247Sports ranks him No. 15 nationally among all defensive tackles and the 164th best recruit in America.
The Observer ranks Cowan in the top 15 in North Carolina.
He has more than 30 Division I offers from national powers (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State) and regional favorites (North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina). But what Cowan doesn’t have is a state championship ring.
And there’s where his motto comes from.
“This is my senior year,” he said. “So I’ve got to go out with a bang ... which means at the end of the game, I want to be that person they say, ‘Man, he left it all on the field. He didn’t take a play off and just dominated the whole game.’ Hopefully, I can be that guy who dominates and leads us far.”
Cowan entered ninth grade at Providence Day with major expectations and a Georgia offer before his freshman year even started. Truth is, he’d been tracking as a high-major recruit since his early middle school days when he regularly played with kids two years older, in part because he was big, but he was naturally gifted.
And he’s been good at Providence Day, making All-America, all-conference and all-state teams — including recording 36 tackles and 10 sacks in 2018 — while earning invitations to many of the prerequisite off-season camps for elite players. Last summer, for example, Cowan attended invitation-only camps put on by Nike (The Opening) and Adidas (Rivals’ 5-star) that are reserved for the best of the best.
Cowan has also accepted an invitation to play in the Under Armour All-American game in Orlando later this year.
“You can’t do the things that he does,” Providence Day coach Adam Hastings said, “without being a combination of really good natural talent, understanding of how to play with great technique and just a great passion for the game.”
Hastings said, for such a big teenager, Cowan’s reaction time is like one of a kid nearly half his size. Combined with his bulk and strength, Cowan’s movement at the snap makes him hard for offensive guards and tackles to contain. And he’s not the only one like that on Hastings’ roster. Senior Kedrick Bingley-Jones is another top 150 national recruit. He’s committed to North Carolina.
Cowan is “a big kid,” said rival coach Drew Witman, who’s at Charlotte Country Day School. “So at this level, to be that big, he’s going to be a problem for anybody ... And he’s pretty durn athletic, too. You’d like to double-team him, but with two of them (Cowan and Bingley-Jones), you can only double-team one.”
With talent like that — Providence Day also has two-time all-state quarterback Cody Cater — Cowan thinks the Chargers can make a run at that state championship he covets so much.
Providence Day won it all in 2011, but the Chargers’ faithful have watched in recent years as Charlotte Christian has emerged as a regional powerhouse. Christian has won the past two Division I state championships while Cowan’s teams have produced only one winning record during his time there.
And that’s what “leave no doubt” is all about. Cowan is serious about leaving a legacy at his school.
He said there’s no better way to do that than to be the last team standing.
“My high school career, I haven’t been able to beat (Christian) yet,” he said. “We were this close last year. (This year,) we’ve been grinding as a team. Everybody’s focused and everybody’s bought into the team, specifically the young guys, not being afraid to compete with older guys ... Everybody’s got a positive mindset.
“I think we’ll do some big things this year, and hopefully I can leave with a ring.”
