In case you missed the biggest college football news of the day: Vanderbilt beat No. 1 Alabama Saturday. The Commodores had never beaten a top-ranked team before and hadn’t beat Alabama in their last 23 games against the Crimson Tide.
It takes a full-team effort to pull off an upset of that magnitude, but one player stood out: tight end Eli Stowers, a Denton Guyer product. Here are some things to know about the Dallas-area local.
Game-leading 113 yards against Alabama
Stowers had a game-leading 113 yards against Alabama, averaging a whopping 18.8 yards per reception. His individual contribution was more than any other non-quarterback in the game, and included some highlight-reel plays.
FIRST DOWN DORES! pic.twitter.com/Egg2jRe7a1
— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) October 5, 2024
Former quarterback
While Stowers was at Denton Guyer, he was a quarterback and helped his team to the state title game in 2019. The same year he was the District 5-6A Co-Offensive MVP after throwing for 2969 yards and 36 touchdowns while running for 1166 yards and 11 touchdowns. The performance made him one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country.
Three-sport athlete
Stowers was a three-sport athlete at Guyer and won the Class 6A state championship in the high jump in track by clearing 6 feet, 10 inches. He also played the school’s basketball team, which reached the 6A Region I final before losing 66-62 to state champion Duncanville.
Winding road to Vanderbilt
Stowers was originally recruited by Texas A&M and played there for a few seasons, which is when he began his transition to tight end. He then moved to New Mexico State, where he earned All-Conference honors at his new position. He finally landed at Vanderbilt this season, transferring alongside Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, after his former New Mexico State head coach, Jerry Kill, joined the Commodores as chief consultant to the head coach
Jalen Milroe’s narrative foil
Years ago, as the 2020 recruiting class was making their decisions, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was reportedly on the verge of committing to Texas A&M, which was just an hour north of his hometown of Katy, Texas. However, that changed when Jimbo Fisher and co., offered another four-star Texas quarterback: Stowers. Stowers was the twelfth-ranked quarterback in the nation, while Milroe, who ended up committing to Texas before flipping to Alabama, was No. 14.
Milroe got his revenge with a career game against the Aggies in 2023, but now Stowers has gotten the last laugh.
Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
