Transfer of Power: WR Kyric McGowan has a new challenge and familiar surroundings as he looks to bring versatility to Georgia Tech’s receiving corps
By Andy Demetra (The Voice of the Yellow Jackets)
Kyric McGowan thought he was supporting a friend.
Little did he know, he was staring into his future.
While his Northwestern football team was still awaiting its late-October return to play last fall, McGowan found himself with some unexpected free time on his hands. On Saturdays, the television at his apartment was often tuned in to Georgia Tech so he could cheer on his close friend from Dalton, Ga., running back Jahmyr Gibbs.
McGowan remembers watching the Yellow Jackets’ season-opening win against Florida State in Tallahassee. He tuned in the following week to watch Gibbs return the opening kickoff 75 yards on his first-career touch against UCF. He watched Tech again when Gibbs marauded for 105 rushing yards in his first-career ACC game against Syracuse.
“I wasn’t surprised by that,” he said.
And now, less than a year later, McGowan has gone from an avid viewer of Georgia Tech football to an active playmaker for them. After graduating from Northwestern in December, the 5-11, 198-pounder reunited with his old pal Gibbs, signing with Tech for his final year of eligibility.
“He has just been everything that this football program is about. It’s wrapped up in Kyric McGowan,” said head coach Geoff Collins.
Like Gibbs, McGowan made an impact on his very first touch. With 47 seconds remaining in the second quarter of last Saturday’s season opener against Northern Illinois, the graduate student hauled in a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jordan Yates, making a leaping grab on a seam route. He had a second touchdown catch overturned by a replay review in the third quarter.
“Pre-play, I saw that it could potentially be a touchdown based off the coverage we were getting,” McGowan said of his score, the fifth of his collegiate career. “It was kind of like a read-and-react on the run, and I was just hoping Yates was on the same page as what I was thinking. And he was, so it turned out picture perfect.”
A transfer from Northwestern, McGowan (2) hauled in three receptions for 32 yards, including a 22-yarder, and Georgia Tech’s lone touchdown through the air in 2021’s season opener.
McGowan was a picture of versatility at Northwestern, catching 68 passes and averaging 6.4 yards per rush over four seasons with the Wildcats. His career included both a 77-yard touchdown catch and a 79-yard touchdown run. He finished his “senior” season with 24 rushes and 34 receptions as Northwestern advanced to the Big Ten championship game.
Ask for a scouting report, though, and McGowan is more likely to respond with modesty.
“I think whatever it is, it’s making a play when my name is called, whether it’s a jet sweep or it’s going deep or converting on a third-and-short. Whatever it is, I just want to be that guy who’s reliable in any situation,” he said.
With the NCAA granting all players an extra year of eligibility, McGowan faced a choice at the end of the 2020 season: train for the NFL Draft or enter the transfer portal and seek one last year of polish. When he opted for the latter, his fellow Dalton H.S. graduate sprang into action. McGowan says he and Gibbs talked every day while he searched for a new school, with Gibbs serving as a de facto pitchman for the Yellow Jackets.
“He was really just biased, obviously, with us being so close. He probably just wanted me to be on the same team with him,” McGowan joked.
It didn’t hurt that he had already logged hours of film study, albeit unwittingly, while watching Georgia Tech last fall. Gibbs’ description of the environment at Tech also caught his ear.
“Team-wise he was telling me about the change in culture and how cool playing under Coach Collins was, and just the swag that the program had,” McGowan recalled.
The mild-mannered Gibbs also got to work on his head coach.
With an undergraduate degree in tow and an extra year of eligibility available, McGowan (2) chose to finish out his college career at Georgia Tech thanks in large part to close friend from high school, Jahmyr Gibbs.
“He called after Kyric had entered the portal and said, ‘Coach, we’ve got to find a way to get him into the program.’ And I think it’s really cool when one of your best players and best kids in the entire program co-signs one of his best friends to come and join us here in Atlanta,” Collins said.
So how much did Gibbs’ endorsement factor into his decision making?
“100 percent,” he replied.
Collins’ and Gibbs’ pitch – plus the allure of playing only 90 miles from his hometown – proved too much for McGowan, who signed with Georgia Tech in January. Even before his debut last Saturday, Collins lauded the example he’s set in the Yellow Jackets’ locker room.
“He’s just a pro, the way he does everything in his life. He’s got a process. He’s very disciplined. He’s very focused,” Collins said. “One of the finest young men that I’ve ever been around in my life. He’s a pleasure to coach.”
That sentiment was reinforced by an unexpected source this summer: former Northwestern athletic director and new ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips.
“One of his biggest praises that he told me one of the first times we met, that one of his favorite student-athletes from his time as the athletic director (at Northwestern) was Kyric McGowan,” Collins recalled.
In his senior year at Northwestern, McGowan amassed 24 rushes and 34 receptions en route to the 2020 Big Ten Championship Game.
With his first score already in the books, McGowan will look to continue his playmaking Saturday when Georgia Tech faces Kennesaw State at Bobby Dodd Stadium (Noon ET, Georgia Tech Sports Network from Legends Sports). Yet until last Saturday, McGowan and his close friend Gibbs had never actually been teammates before. McGowan was a senior at Dalton High when Gibbs was still a freshman on the JV.
“That was before Jahmyr became Jahmyr Gibbs,” McGowan laughed.
Perhaps that’s why they took time before the Northern Illinois game to soak in a moment that had been a long time coming.
“We talked pregame, just being on the field warming up together. We were kind of taking it in. It felt great,” McGowan said.
Georgia Tech fans may want to do what Kyric McGowan did last fall: Stay tuned.
