Prep basketball: Bowers signs for tall order By KEVIN BRADFORD, Staff Writer Archbishop Spalding senior Will Bowers admitted he didn't even like basketball as a freshman. With that mindset, who could have predicted he would make it this far? "I wasn't a college basketball fan when I was young. I didn't like basketball in ninth grade. I only played because I was tall," Bowers said Back then, Bowers was a tall, but skinny 6-foot-7, 190-pound freshman who was struggling to grow into his body and deal with life on junior varsity as the tall kid on campus at Spalding. "I was only the fourth or fifth best player on junior varsity," Bowers said. As Bowers grew taller and filled out each year, his talents and outlook on the sport also changed for the better. "I'm a completely different player now. Back then I was weak, uncoordinated and didn't like the game. Now I have a deep love and passion for the game and that's the difference," Bowers said. Now a 7-foot, 250-pound center, his meteoric rise into a national college basketball recruit was completed yesterday when he signed a national letter-of-intent with the University of Maryland. With the simple stroke of a pen during a ceremony in Spalding's gymnasium, Bowers made history. Proudly donning a red Maryland hat and T-shirt, Bowers became the first Anne Arundel County basketball player to sign with the Terrapins out of high school. "It's a great accomplishment. I just feel so happy and fortunate to get a scholarship to Maryland," Bowers said. "All the hard work paid off. This is just the beginning for me. I hope I have a lot of great years in basketball ahead of me." Bowers said he isn't sure if it has sunk in yet. "I'm trying not to get too focused in on what's happening. This is probably one of the most important days of my life. I'll look back on this day and remember it clearly," he said. Bowers couldn't have planned a better time to go to Maryland, which won its first national championship in school history last year in its second straight trip to the Final Four. The Terrapins also opened their new 17,847-seat Comcast Center on Tuesday night. "All that stuff combined made it impossible to turn down Maryland. Even without the national title and the new arena, it would've still been hard to turn them down when they're in your own backyard," Bowers said. "I thought after I made my decision that I might have some second thoughts down the road, but I didn't. I'm 100 percent Terrapin." The timing also makes Bowers a part of Maryland's second straight star-studded recruiting class. He is joined by 6-10 center Hassan Fofana, forward Ekene Ibekwe, wing guard Mike Jones and swingman D.J. Strawberry in the Terps' 2003 recruiting class. "With the recruiting class last year and now with five of the top 100 players in the country ... once you win a national title it's easy bringing in players," Bowers said. "I feel so fortunate. I think I can fit in well, especially with the offense they run. I've watched Maryland play countless times. "Obviously Coach (Gary) Williams is a great person with a lot of morals and character. He's also a real funny guy with a dry sense of humor. He was easy to get along with." Spalding coach Mike Glick said he will never forget meeting Bowers when he was a freshman. "Will was one of the first players I met here when I got the job four years ago," Glick said. "If you said to me at the end of his ninth grade year that he would get a basketball scholarship to Maryland, I would've taken that bet. He wasn't even the best ninth grade player in our school." Glick said Bowers made himself a better player in the offseason. "I'm so proud of Will as a player and person. He was a late bloomer. He had to grow into his body. He had the passion and goal for something and he went after it. He got in shape and made great strides as a player and athlete," Glick said. "At the beginning of this summer, he was a good player. But some felt he wasn't good enough to play at Maryland. But once our season ended, he made himself better through hard work and dedication." Bowers averaged 12.2 points and six rebounds per game and was a force inside defensively with 61 blocks last year as a junior. He earned first-team Capital-Gazette Newspapers' All-County and All-Catholic League honors, and was also named to the Baltimore Catholic League All-Tournament team. Bowers has a 1,310 SAT score and 3.2 grade point average. He said he's leaning toward majoring in business in College Park. Published November 14, 2002, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright © 2002 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.