Drew Cowart, an Arizona native and BYU preferred walk-on recruit, has returned from his mission in Colombia.
Cowart, a quarterback who prepped at American Leadership Academy, committed to BYU in January 2023. Cowart is projected to grayshirt in 2024 and enroll at BYU in January 2025.
Cowart has several ties to the BYU football team. His father is former BYU defensive lineman Jeff Cowart. Jeff attended BYU from 2000 to 2001. In high school, he was coached by Ty Detmer and Max Hall, two former BYU greats.
After 18 months of service as a missionary for @Ch_JesusChrist I am home! So grateful for all the Colombian people, and all the things I learned. Super excited for the future and the opportunities ahead🤙🏼 pic.twitter.com/UhZGXSICzE
— Drew Cowart (@drew_cowart) July 7, 2024
Cowart will enter a crowded quarterback room at BYU. During spring camp, BYU had ten quarterbacks on its roster. That number will be reduced by the time BYU arrives at Fall camp.
During Cowart’s recruitment, BYU was not the only program interested in him. Utah made him a competing PWO offer, and the Utes paid him an in-person visit at his home. He also received a scholarship offer from Middle Tennessee during his recruiting.
Cowart passed for slightly under 2,500 yards and 35 touchdowns, with only 5 interceptions.
During the Kalani Sitake period, BYU relied heavily on the preferred walk-on program. Several BYU starters began their careers as walk-ons, and former walk-ons Tyler Allgeier and Dax Milne went on to become NFL draft picks. It is unrealistic to expect all walk-ons to become starters, but BYU has shown that they can identify one or two walk-ons in each class who become contributors, even quarterbacks.
The Cougars have preferred walk-on quarterbacks such as Baylor Romney and Jake Jensen. Romney, as most fans will recall, started several games for BYU as quarterback. Jake Jensen received scholarship offers from Power Five programs before deciding to attend USC.
BYU’s PWO program allows them to recruit for any roster place, not just scholarship athletes. Over time, this has increased BYU’s overall depth.
