Penn State assistant Tyler Bowen joining Urban Meyer in Jacksonville

Penn State tight ends coach Tyler Bowen will join Urban Meyer’s staff with the Jacksonville Jaguars, sources have confirmed to Lions247. Bowen spent the last three seasons with the Nittany Lions after previous coaching stops at Maryland and Fordham. Before that, he was a graduate assistant under James Franklin at Penn State in Franklin’s first season in Happy Valley.

He’s expected to officially be named to Meyer’s new staff later this week.

Penn State’s tight end room has made big strides under Bowen over the last three seasons. Much of that came through the development of All-Big Ten performer Pat Freiermuth, who moved into a starting role as a true freshman in Bowen’s first season in 2018 and won the conference’s Tight End of the Year Award in an abbreviated junior season in 2020. Freiermuth, who caught 92 passes for 1,185 yards and a school-record 16 touchdowns in 30 career games, declared for the NFL Draft in December.

The Nittany Lions were able to reshape their tight end room under Bowen. Penn State signed four-star Brenton Strange out of West Virginia in the Class of 2019, then inked a pair of tight ends in Theo Johnson and Tyler Warren in the next cycle. Johnson was the No. 3 tight end in the Class of 2020 and both played as true freshmen. Pittsburgh-area standout Khalil Dinkins, a four-star prospect by 247Sports, signed with the Nittany Lions in December and Penn State has a pair of four-star tight end commitments in the Class of 2022 in Wisconsin native Jerry Cross and Georgia standout Holden Staes.

Stange and Johnson came into their own in 2020 after Freiermuth underwent season-ending surgery midway through the year. Strange caught 17 passes for 164 yards and two scores, while Johnson caught four passes for 56 yards and passed redshirt sophomore Zack Kuntz on the depth chart.

Bowen is the Nittany Lions’ top-rated staff member in the Class of 2021 Recruiting Rankings. He’s credited with four commitments in the cycle and was instrumental in landing four-star offensive lineman Landon Tengwall. He was the No. 7 recruiter in the Big Ten in the Class of 2020. Bowen’s recruiting area centered in Maryland and in the Washington DC Metro area.

A rising star in the coaching industry, Bowen was a member of 247Sports’ 30 Under 30 back in 2018. Before coming to Happy Valley, he coached for one season under Joe Moorhead at Fordham as the offensive line coach and took over offensive coordinator responsibilities when Moorhead moved to Penn State. He coached Maryland’s offensive line in 2017 before accepting the position with Penn State.

He served as Penn State’s interim offensive coordinator in the Nittany Lions’ 53-39 win over Memphis in the 2019 Cotton Bowl. He added a co-Offensive Coordinator title after the 2019 season and was the program’s offensive recruiting coordinator.

Bowen played three seasons under Franklin as an offensive lineman at Maryland.



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