Friday, July 8, 2022
File Photo Daytawion Lowe (left) played a key role in OSU’s defense in 2013.
Countdown to kickoff: Daytawion Lowe Braden King Staff Reporter Only eight weeks remain until OSU’s Sept. 1 season opener against Central Michigan. So, as tribute to being eight weeks from Cowboy football, The O’Colly sat down with a former standout who donned the No. 8, Daytawion Lowe (Safety; 2009-13). Thumper Lowe had a reputation as a big hitter while at OSU. So much so that the safety’s teammates coined him the nickname “Thumper.” Justin Gilbert, a former cornerback, told the Tulsa World in 2013 that, “He (Lowe) would rather go for the big hit than the pick.” Lowe: “I just always liked contact. I was just a guy that liked contact, like, every play. I remember times where I probably didn’t even have to hit anybody, but I ran and tried to hit somebody anyway. That was just something I liked to do and, plus, football was a game of – I wouldn’t say putting fear into somebody, but you gotta let people know that you’re not scared of them. I was always a smaller guy, so I always wanted to show people that I could bring a punch just like a big guy.” Bear down No. 3-ranked Baylor walked into Stillwater in 2013 (Lowe’s senior year) with a 9-0 mark and an offense that averaged more than 61 points per game. But after four quarters of play, the Bears’ potent offense had only 17 points to show for. That Cowboy defense finished in the top 20 in the country in team defense and fifth in turnovers per game (2 1/2). Lowe: “I think it was our ability to play man (de-
fense) on the back end, and we had a lot of good DB’s that were very experienced. So we could line up and just really match up good with wide receivers, and it allowed our linebackers and d-line to focus more on stopping the run. And so I think it was just a collaboration of good DB’s, and we had good linebackers, and we had a good coaching staff that realized what we had and kinda utilized it. That played the biggest part in it.” Surviving the spread Offenses like Baylor’s were prevalent in the early 2010s. In 2012, seven of the Big 12’s 10 teams were top 25 in scoring offense. So OSU defenses of the time were often overlooked. Lowe: “It was hard to keep any team out of the end zone then. In the Big 12 we always had weapons, and it’s been known as an offensive conference, so we get a lot of good offensive players. I just think that the numbers, how fast we moved, the tempo and the amount of athletes we’ve got that we put them in space for them to make big plays, it racks up the numbers fast and makes the defenses look like they aren’t doing as much. But we played a whole lot more plays than the other conferences did.” So on top of enjoying watching an OSU defense perform at a high level as it did last season, it was equally satisfying to have an OSU defense get recognition. Lowe: “It actually was great. It reminded me a lot of us. I mean they looked like they were a great, tight unit, and the coaches – they understood each other well, they knew what their strong points were... they down the Big 12 so much on defense. So it’s always good when we’ve got something that numbers can actually show that we actually play good defense.”
Tight unit Current and former players often refer to the closeness in the locker room and how it can make a team better. And for Lowe, who attended Carl Albert High School and went on to start in his final 39 games at OSU, it helped him step into a major role and build chemistry with teammates. Lowe: “Markelle Martin, he played a big part in just helping me get comfortable down there when I first started starting my sophomore year. He was the safety that was next to me, and he helped me out a lot. Victor Johnson was one that I was close to, Tracy
Moore, I mean we were all close. Like Jeremy Smith, all those guys were from Oklahoma, so I kinda had a head-start in knowing them.” From the field to the track Lowe has been around horses much of his life and even owned horses while at OSU. Now, in post-football life, Lowe is further pursuing his passion for horses and simultaneously scratching the itch of competition. He currently owns a couple race horses and enters them in races. Lowe: “Really I’m just transitioning to the race-horse field. I just got through racing
a horse at Remington (Park) (in Oklahoma City) at the end of May. I’m really just horse racing, other than that, not too much. I’m trying to make a living out of the horse racing thing, basically. “It’s fun; it’s a way to compete and keep that competitive edge. I’ve been having fun, it’s been a great way for me to transition where I don’t have to go out there and try to run somebody over or get ran over, you know. So, it works for me.”
sports.ed@ocolly.com
File Photo Daytawion Lowe, a former OSU safety, is now a horse jockey in Oklahoma City.