Coach: Bohanna has incredible upside

The defensive coordinator at Quinton Bohanna's high school spoke with Cats Illustrated shortly after his defensive lineman committed to Kentucky.

Dominique Bowman is the defensive coordinator at Cordova, Tenn., and he spoke at length with Cats Illustrated about Bohanna, his commitment to Kentucky, and why the Cats had such appeal to the player, and to him as well.

"He's one of the smartest guys on the team," Bowman said of Bohanna. "He's a big kid and a lot of people just think big guys are only aggressive. But he knows all 11 spots on the defense. He's a smart kid. One of the smartest guys I've coached. He's a good, coachable kid. Just a good kid."

Bowman said Bohanna is 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds, and he added that he's got an 83-inch wing span.

But he hasn't always been that kind of imposing figure.

"The reason he's so good is he's a small man in a big guy's body," he said. "He was a quarterback in middle school. He kinda got big late. He's just so athletic. You see him on film in the games and he's like a small guy with the swag. He's so athletic. He can run down the quarterback. He can go into the gym and dunk the basketball. He's athletic."

Bowman is only 16 years old and he's an inside defensive lineman now for Cordova in Bowman's scheme. He plays mostly the three-technique, but he can play the one-technique in a three-man front.

"I'm not sure what scheme they'll have him running with D.J. But when we go three-down we put him at zero, at the nose," Bowman said.

D.J. Eliot and Jimmy Brumbaugh deserve a lot of credit for securing Bohanna's commitment, Bowman said.

"Kentucky got his commitment because they were recruiting him really hard. My hat's off the Jimmy and D.J. And Coach Stoops, too. They did a terrific job," he said. "We've been to a ton of schools."

Bowman actually played for Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze when he was in college. Naturally, that would have good a fit that Bowman would have liked to see. But as the process wore on, those three Kentucky coaches mentioned above won over Bohanna -- and Bowman, too.

"They made him feel at home and they made him feel comfortable," Bowman said. "One of the things that really made him feel great and tipped him that was Coach Brumbaugh's gonna get him ready for the next level. Coach Brumbaugh's going to give him the best chance to go to the NFL.

"Tennessee and Ole Miss ... they're great schools. But he wants to go to Kentucky. He didn't look at the records or anything like that. He looked at the school and the coaches and he felt great about them and those relationships," Bowman said.