Joseph William Cowan (born September 15, 1984 in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

) is a Canadian-born American former

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

wide receiver for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

High school

Cowan played at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California. There he played on both offense and defense. As a junior, he made 37 receptions for 917 yards and 9 touchdowns. As a senior, he caught 41 passes for 698 yards and 10 touchdowns. After his senior year, he was selected to play in the CaliFlorida and 2003 Shrine All-Star games. He also was named to the Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West team, Long Beach Press-Telegram Dream Team first-team defense, All-CIF Southern Section first team, All-CIF-SS Division I first team, L.A. Times All-Star team as defensive back, L.A. Times Southeast/South Coast Player of the Year, Serra League MVP as a senior, and he was named team MVP after his senior year. He also received the Scholar-Athlete award from the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. Cowan also lettered his senior year in basketball where he helped lead the Braves to a CIF-SS Div. II-AA title against Inglewood in 2003, and three years in track where he finished fourth in the State 300-meter hurdles in 2002 and second in the CIF-SS 400 meters in 2003.

College career

As a true freshman at UCLA in 2003, Cowan played in 11 games, but saw limited action. In total, he made 7 catches for 31 yards and 1 touchdown. He was also credited with a tackle against

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. In 2004, Cowan saw more playing time. On the year he made 13 catches for 228 yards, including a 5 reception, 95-yard night against

Cal Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

. That night, he also scored his only

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

of the year. Cowan once again improved his numbers from the previous year. He played in all 12 games and made 35 catches for 469 yards, both second-best on the team. He also scored 3 touchdowns, and rushed once for 6 yards. Cowan sat out the 2006 season due to an injury and received a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

. He played in 2007 and had 29 receptions for 405 yards.

Personal

Cowan's brother

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

also played on the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

football team as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. Their father Tim Cowan is a former

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

and

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

quarterback.

References

External links

Cowan Pulls a Fast One on Defenders - Los Angeles Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Joe 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Vancouver American football wide receivers UCLA Bruins football players Canadian expatriate American football people in the United States Players of American football from British Columbia Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California St. John Bosco High School alumni