Oklahoma State QB Alan Bowman celebrates first day of '19th grade'

It used to be that the average college football player spent 17 years in school, at the most.

High school took them through 12th grade and then four years of college ball, plus a redshirt year, would leave them at 17 years in the school system — grad school notwithstanding.

Things changed after 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic, though. Many college athletes saw their season go up in smoke, which led to the invention of the "Covid-year." which was basically a do-over. Throw in medical redshirts, which are granted to players who lose most if not all of a season due to injury, and it has become potential for college athletes to retain their eligibility for nearly a decade.

That's certainly the case for Oklahoma State quarterback Alan Bowman, who celebrated his first day of "19th grade" on social media recently:

So how does this work for Bowman?

He started his college career at Texas Tech where he was a freshman in 2018. He threw for 2,638 yards and 17 touchdowns that season, which included a 600-yard game.

He started three games in 2019 before losing the rest of the season due to injury. He received extra eligibility because of those missed games. Bowman transferred to Michigan for 2021 and 2022, but he redshirted one of those years. He played last season at Oklahoma State, throwing for 3,058 yards and 13 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.