Bowers talks about sack record and his thoughts on returning for a senior season

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 26 18:17:20 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON – Da’Quan Bowers says he doesn’t wake up on Sunday mornings and check the national rankings to see where he stands in regards to sacks and tackles for loss.

The junior and Bamberg native leads the country in sacks with 10, and tackles for loss at 17.5, but he said on Tuesday that those stats don’t matter to him. At least not yet.

“I definitely don’t even look at the national stats or the ACC rankings, and I haven’t since college football started,” Bowers said. “I will usually get a text or someone on Facebook will send me something saying what the stats are. If there is anything big that happens, Tim [Sports Information Director Tim Bourret] will tell me. I don’t think about those things. I just go about my usual Sunday.”

The Clemson record for sacks in a season is 16, which was set by former linebacker Keith Adams back in 1999, and Bowers did say that number is a goal of his. Also a goal of his is the career sacks number of 28 ½, which is shared between Michael Dean Perry and the late Gaines Adams.

“I want to try and get to 16 and either tie the school record or be close to it,” he said. “I pay attention to that because Keith trained with us a lot last year, and we got close. He was always telling me how he had the record, so I have a small eye on it.

“When I signed originally, my goal was to break the school record at 28. If I can get about 16 this year and about 16 next year, that would be okay. I will just have to see how this year ends up for me.”

Bowers was told that to break the career record, he would almost certainly have to return for his senior season as he had just mentioned, and he was asked if that tips his hand on future plans.

Many early NFL mock drafts have Bowers targeted as a Top 15 pick, and some even have him in the Top 10. Bowers said that he just wants to wait until after the season to think about a professional career, at which time he will sit down with his family, head coach Dabo Swinney, and weigh all of his options.

“I am not sure what I am going to do,” he said. “I am not going to take anything from this team or these coaches and think about my career. I owe them that much. I am still here for the next five weeks, and that’s just something I will think about after the bowl game. I am not thinking about my career because I am still here. When the bowl game is over, I will do whatever God lays on my heart.”