SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Drayk Bowen started to consider giving up baseball last summer. After spending his sophomore season making his first three game appearances — twice a pinch runner and once as a pinch hitter — Bowen started to wonder if all the time spent juggling baseball and football at Notre Dame was worth having virtually no time off in the summer between the two seasons.
Bowen put those questions to the side while earning a starting role as a sophomore linebacker for the football team in the fall. He became a key member of one of the best defenses in the country, which fueled a College Football Playoff run that ended with a loss to Ohio State in the national championship game.
By the time ND’s football season ended on Jan. 20, the baseball program’s first game was less than a month away. He had conversations with coaches in both programs before making his decision to put his baseball career on the shelf.
“For me it was just like is my time really worth spending at baseball,” Bowen said. “Just the timing of when we ended the season to when baseball wanted me back, it just didn’t really make sense. I felt like my future is in football and not necessarily baseball. There were a bunch of other things that went into it, but those were the main things.”
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