Tony Conty:    You're originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, right?

Adarius Bowman:  That's right, Chattanooga.


Tony Conty:  Did you grow up a fan of either the Tar Heels or the Cowboys, either of your eventual teams

Adarius Bowman:  No, neither of them.  I kind of ended up a North Carolina fan because I played basketball growing up and everybody loves Mike so I wanted to go to the same college as he did.  That's mainly where the North Carolina thing came from.


Tony Conty: You are an education major.  What are your plans for life after football with that?

Adarius Bowman:  Yes, elementary education.


Tony Conty:  Did you have plan for that with your life after football?

Adarius Bowman:  Hopefully, it's going to come in handy, even though right now, there's really not that much else out there.  I did graduate and I got it, just in case.  


Tony Conty: Describe your relationship with Zac Robinson and Bobby Reid over your past few years.

Adarius Bowman:  Oh, man, I had a great relationship with both of those guys.  Honestly, I had a better relationship with Bobby, because I met him and I knew him a little better off the field.  He had been a friend and all.  They're both great guys, two different styles of Quarterbacks but both great guys.  They good make big plays.  I feel that Bobby Reid is more of a "sit-in-the-pocket-and-throw-it" type guy and Zac Robinson is blessed with the ability to run really well.  Two great Quarterbacks on one offense is always a good thing.  It's just difficult knowing when they are going to play and how you are going to use them at the same time.  I feel like we struggled with that at times.    


Tony Conty:  From your perspective, finish this sentence: An ideal receiver in college football must first learn...

Adarius Bowman:  The offensive scheme.


Tony Conty:  Now, then, based on what I just asked, finish this sentence: The ideal quarterback I work with must first...

Adarius Bowman: ...understand the different type of receivers he has, because, in my opinion, if you know the type of receivers you have, you know what the guy can do so you know where to put the ball.  I feel like that will make it a lot better  You want the Receiver and the Quarterback to have a good relationship, in terms of knowing each other on the field and the plays: where he makes big plays and where he struggles at.  I might have given too many words, but that's how I feel about it.


Tony Conty:  We've been knee deep in film for the past couple months and some of your games this year were just absolutely huge: 7 catches for 142 and 2 Touchdowns against A+M.  You were a great asset in the Insight Bowl against Indiana.  Now, are you the type of player that really hypes themselves up and can tell when they are going to have a really big game or does it just happen and you don't know until its over?

Adarius Bowman:  I am more of a guy where it just happens and I don't know until it's over.  I like to hype the other guys up around me and I feed off of that.  That makes me play better.  It just happens naturally.  


Tony Conty:  Obviously, the season didn't end the way you wanted it to.  You had the knee injury and you were considered a Heisman and a Biletnikoff candidate before the injury.  How much stock do you put in those individual awards?

Adarius Bowman:  Not much.  I look at that as extra.  That's extra points.  I am more just focused on our team.  If we are winning, I'm good.  All of the individual awards are great.  It's something that you can be proud about when it's all over, but, me as a person, I don't put much into that basket.


Tony Conty:  In that regard, I am a big movie guy and I like the Oscar Posters that say, "For Your Consideration".  Then, I went on Bowman12.com...are you familiar with this site.  Are you responsible for this?

Adarius Bowman:  Yeah, I know about the site.  Actually, that's the media department at Oklahoma State.  They kind of put it together for me.  Yeah, I did know about that site.


Tony Conty:  Well, they did a lot for you, it seems.

Adarius Bowman:  Yeah, it's a good thing.  I don't think that too many players can say that.  I am thankful for it.


Tony Conty:  We in the sports media probably focus on things that you guys don't and obviously Oklahoma State got a lot of press after Coach Gundy's infamous press conference.  How big of a deal was that to the team when it started showing on the news and on Sportscenter ad nauseam.  Did it affect you and rally the team at all?

Adarius Bowman:  To be honest...I know it's hard to say this right now, but the entire team didn't know where that came from.  We were just as shocked.  That was a really difficult moment around Stillwater, the time that that happened, because I don't know where that came from, or what started all of it.  


Tony Conty:  Describe your experience at the Combine this year.  Did you see anything unexpected in the interview process when you got to interact with coaches and front office members.

Adarius Bowman:  Not anything unexpected.  I did have teammates and other players that had been there in the past.  I felt like I was kind of prepared for it.  The only downfall about it, in my opinion, is all the healing from my Lasik Eye Surgery.  I felt like I didn't get to perform when it came time to run routes and catch the ball.  It was a great experience, all in all, in terms of meeting all the coaches and doing the drills.  I kind of even enjoyed the whole medical procedure, going through the doctors and all those things, so it was a great experience, all in all.  


Tony Conty:  Describe what it takes...everything we have read about you has the disclaimer that you left North Carolina, but no charges were filed with anything that happened and they were dismissed, but describe what it takes to put something like that behind you, what people think about your exit from North Carolina?

Adarius Bowman:  It takes a lot of prayer and forgiving you and others.  It's a lot of prayers and hard work.  It's never giving up, because I can't say that at the time of all that happening that it wasn't hard.  You want to give up and find an easy way out.  The rest of it is just waiting, sitting around, playing ball.  You're waiting to see if a team will pick you up.  You are going to class and keeping your grades up.  You're putting in that extra work, sending letters to coaches trying to let them know straight up that you are interested in their program.  It was a really stressful experience, but, like I said, it requires a lot of prayer and forgiveness.  If you forgive yourself and the situation, I think that you can move forward.  


Tony Conty: So were you forced to field a lot of character questions and concernes at the Combine?

Adarius Bowman:  Yeah, man, I feel like I spent a lot of time doing that, but, in my opinion, once you do talk to everyone about it, I feel it was just overblown, but you can't...don't nobody want to hear that.  It's been done, so I don't want to go back on it like that.  I just feel like in the time that it happened it was taken in the wrong perception of what really happened.  But it's done...it's over now.  


Tony Conty:  So, as far as the Combine is concerned, we, as the draftniks, have seen your stock all over the place.  If the 40 time isn't quite what you like, it will bring out some of your doubters.  Are you the time that tunes out the negative press that you read and predictions that people make or are you the type that can use it as motivation?

Adarius Bowman:  Yeah, actually I use it as motivation, because you can't just tune it out, but you got to respect it.  I mean, that's somebody's opinion.  Some like you and some don't.  I don't going to spend my time trying to please everybody, but I am going to continue doing what I am doing and play ball the way I play.  Like I said, some love it, but some don't really like my style.  All in all, only one team has to like you, so hopefully, I am in the back of some team's head.  


Tony Conty:  So, do you think that the 40 time is as accurate in measuring NFL success  as people make it out to be in measuring NFL success or do you think it is overrated?

Adarius Bowman:  No, not at all.  Some might have a different opinion.  I just don't know too many times on the football field that you are down in a stance like that and start running in a straight line, especially when you are a receiver.  It is what it is.  I feel that all it measures is a guy's straight-away speed for 40 yards.  I mean, what if you are a guy who takes a little time to build up? What if my next 40 yards are faster? But, it's all in how you take it.  You gotta respect it.  That's all you have to do.


Tony Conty: So, how good does the knee feel now?

Adarius Bowman:  Oh, man, it feels great.  I haven't had problems with it.  It's working out well, bending and lifting, everything.  


Tony Conty:  Who are the toughest cornerbacks, if you had to pick a few that you faced in the your time at UNC and Oklahoma State?

Adarius Bowman:  Toughest guy is...the one I always think about is the guy from Indiana, Tracy Porter.  I'll always remember that guy.  He had a lot of energy and they played a lot of man-to-man.  We battled play by play.  We kept me into the game.  I'll always remember him.  I got the chance to play against Leodis out of Troy.  It wasn't one of my best games.  Actually, it was one of my worst games, in my opinion.  He had great feet, really quick.  But besides that, those are the only two that I really remember.  I remember Texas and the Griffin twins and Ross.  Texas always had great guys.  OU always had great defenders.  I really enjoyed playing in the Big 12, especially since coming from the ACC.  


Tony Conty:  I can see that, yes.  When you look at all of these issues, come up, what you think of Roger Goodell's attempt to clean up the game and focus on off-the-field problems? How do you think it has gone and how do you think that he is handling it?

Adarius Bowman:  I feel like it is going well.  The way they have been handling it, I feel like it is going to help.  It seems like...I was talking to a reporter the other day and it seems that it turned into off-the-field issues.  Everyone is focusing on that.  In order to make it better, I feel like you have to stress more things on the player so they can start watching their action and the things that they are doing.  It will help out the NFL as a whole.  I have been taking it now as, "This is a job.  It's a business".  You enjoy playing the game, but it's a business. It's a job.  You got to keep everything professional.  


Tony Conty:  Self-promote.  Why should teams draft you higher than you have been projected?

Adarius Bowman:  I can answer that.  I feel like I give you 100% every day, on and off the field.  As a person, as far as my character, I feel like I'm a really consistent person.  It's always the same.  Also, I love playing the game.  I feel like I am going to bring excitement to any team that picks me up.  That's dealing with the fans and the whole game: preparation, practices, and all.  I feel like I bring that quality to a team and also I love helping people and I love to learn, so I'll get a chance to learn from some of the veteran players and get a chance to help somebody out along the way.  So, I feel like that's some of the characteristics that I bring to a football team.  


Tony Conty: We wish you the best of luck this off-season and really hope to see you succeed.

Adarius Bowman:  Thank you.  I appreciate you all helping me today.