AMHERST — The UMass defense took the field with 3 minutes, 39 seconds remaining knowing it needed one stop to win the game.
On the first play of UConn’s drive, Lee Moses jumped a route and intercepted David Pindell’s pass, allowing the Minutemen to run out the clock. Safety Brice McAllister pointed to one player who set the tone for that drive, and he wasn’t even on the field for Moses’ interception.
“It all started with James Bowe on the kickoff,” McAllister said.
James Bowe Jr., the junior linebacker out of Miami, sprinted down the field on the kickoff that followed UMass’ go-ahead score and leveled Keyion Dixon at the 19-yard line. The big hit sent a shockwave through the stadium and gave the defense some juice to begin the drive.
“Before that kickoff, we were in the huddle and it was like ‘Who’s going to get this one,” Bowe said. “No one has had a big hit in the last couple of games. It was a competition that we set among each other and there were guys that came free off of their blocks and some guys went unblocked. It was a race and I just got there first. When I hit him, I was just like ‘Woah, let’s go. It’s time to turn up.’”
The big hits on special teams have always fascinated Bowe. He said he grew up watching the hype videos from college football teams, and all of them would inevitably have that one bone-crushing hit on a kickoff or punt.
“You see that one big hit on kickoff and you want to know ‘Can I do that? Can I make it up on there,’” Bowe said. “That kind of motivates me a lot and then making big plays or helping out on making big plays happen on special teams, really gets my teammates energized, and that helps us throughout the course of a game.”
It isn’t just Bowe’s big hits that energize his teammates. A quick glance at his Twitter feed reveals the crux of who Bowe is as a person.
Every day, Bowe tweets in the morning some version of his gratitude for having another day alive. He follows up that tweet with an inspirational quote minutes later. It’s a public version of the person his coaches and teammates see on a daily basis.
“He’s really a positive guy all the time,” coach Mark Whipple said. “He’s always full of (energy), a joy to be around, a smile on his face and loves the game and loves people.”
Bowe said his family is at the root of his constant positivity. As the oldest, he felt the need to set an example of how to deal with adversity for his siblings when he lived with his father, James Sr.
“Growing up as a kid, a lot of us have seen a lot of negative stuff,” Bowe said. “Growing up living with my grandparents and my dad and everyone else, I’ve always had siblings that were younger than me. I’ve always had to keep a positive mindset and stay positive so that way my younger siblings will have someone to look at and say ‘He’s being positive even those this bad thing happen. He’s making the best out of it.’”
That mentality has been helpful for UMass during a season that hasn’t lived up to expectations most of the time. The Minutemen (3-6) need to run the table in November in order to qualify for a bowl game, a stretch that begins Saturday against Liberty (4-3) at 3:30 p.m. in the final game of the season at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.
“In football, you’re going to face a lot of adversity,” Bowe said. “They’re going to make plays, you’re going to make plays, it’s all about how you bounce back from those plays. Me being able to have that positive mindset and speak that positive mindset toward my teammates, it helps keep their heads up.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.