Bo Bowling may be the most patient guy in Canada.  Coming out of the bye week break, the Alouettes’ possible future kick-returner will have to do what he does best.  

Wait.

Trent Guy has healed up since Bowling last returned eight punts for 84 yards (a single- season high for Montreal and a career best for Bowling) in sloppy weather conditions during the team’s road victory in Winnipeg.

“It’s so hard to be patient but I love doing this,” says the 24-year old from Tonkawa, Oklahoma (he tells me population 3,500, but census figures show the town has dwindled to 3,216 since 2010).  “It’s tough on me, tough sitting here. I have to be patient and humble.”

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The 5-foot-9, 183-pound receiver is well-practiced at that. Bowling came out of Oklahoma State only to be part of the NFL lockout freeze of college free agents.  He’d worked out for about a dozen teams at Oklahoma State pro day and talked to a few with ultimately nothing developing in part because of the labour strife.

The Alouettes were his best and only next chance.

“Brandon Whitaker and SJ Green have been great, helping me, talking to me.  They were on the practice roster for what, two, three years before they became starters?  I’ll be the same way.  I talk to them about it.”

“I’m just being the good soldier. I want to win. I love playing for Coach Trestman.   I’m going to stay here; it’s a long season still.”

The Alouettes’ special teams have been an area of concern, but the unit banded together in Week 6.  Guy is averaging five yards per return, while Bowling has returned kicks for an average of 8.6.   

The CFL average is 10.4

After attending training camp in 2011, he never imagined he’d have to wait until the 18th and final game of the regular season to return all of three punts and register one reception.

“I talk to my dad every day. I get emotional about it because he’s my best friend. When things are wearing on me, we talk.”
Danny Bowling was Bo’s first coach. In Tonkawa, kids are enrolled in the school of hard knocks on-field classes in 1st Grade.   Some Oklahoma towns are so small, the kids play in eight-on-a-side leagues.

“We were undefeated in fourth, fifth and sixth grade. That last season, we never even got scored on. Five or six guys from my school went on to Division 1.”
If you need advice on Canada-Oklahoma phone plans, Bowling is your go-to guy.

“I had bills of $700, $500 a month when I first got here. That’ll kill you. We got it worked out. (His father) got a landline with free long distance and I can receive for free. We’d have a system where we’d ring each other, not pick up, and that was the signal to call back for free.”

On the field, however, Bowling is simply happy to do what’s asked of him.

“I love returning punts. I did it in high school; I even did it at junior college when I was a quarterback!”

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M is built for guys who break the mould. Little wonder its alumni include Jeremy Shockey.

Bowling was Southwestern JC Conference MVP, on the shiftiness of 1,200 yards rushing and another 700 through the air.

“Montreal is a great place so I have no choice but to wait.  Bye week didn’t work in my favour.  I accept that.  You don’t lose your spot to injury,” he says of Guy’s return to the field.

Though he has only appeared in two games in just over two seasons, Bowling has shown a courageous running style and uncanny patience for letting holes open up and walls break down.

“You want to hit it full speed downhill, but you have to mix it up.  I study our blocking schemes on film so I know where the holes will open up. You just have to let them.”

His CFL debut following 17 faith-testing weeks on the practice roster in 2011 came in a blowout loss to the BC Lions during which time he had only three opportunities to return punts. The stats don’t tell the story of his straight-ahead instinct for courage and hard yards.

“But I played some on offence and the ball popped out,” Bowling recalls.  “That didn’t help me.”

No, Bowling was benched again for the playoff loss the following week.

His hometown was once a prison town for World War 2 Germans. The POWs outnumbered the residents. Tonkawa knows all about being in tough spots and the waiting game.

Maybe the Als will again let Bowling hit those holes at some point this season. Their roulette wheel of returners hasn’t stopped spinning for several years while Larry Taylor and Chad Owens have established themselves elsewhere.

Opportunity?

Bowling will be a free agent in 2013.   He’ll make a decision when the time comes.

“It’s going to rise again.”