Ready to lead: Coyotes quarterback Aidan Bouman could be the key to a football revolution at USD

Jul. 28—VERMILLION — The USD Coyotes expect 2023 to be different.

Unlike last year, they're not staring down the barrel of a brutal early-season schedule. After playing last season without an offensive coordinator, former South Dakota State assistant Josh Davis has stepped into the role after winning a national championship with the rival Jackrabbits.

And they have a potential game-changing quarterback they believe they can build around in Aidan Bouman.

A 6-foot-6, 250-pound left-handed sophomore, Bouman transferred to USD from Iowa State before last season, took over as the starter midway through the year and immediately produced, throwing for 772 yards and seven touchdowns in three and-a-half games.

The son of longtime NFL quarterback Todd Bouman, Aidan has faced high expectations in all of his athletic endeavors since he was a kid, but now it's for real. The Coyotes were 3-8 last year. They have just one playoff win in 15 seasons at the Division I level. The last time they took the field, they were embarrassed in a 58-14 loss to Northern Iowa in front of a small DakotaDome crowd. From the players to the coaches, administration to the fans, this program is starved for success on the football field, and Bouman wants to be the one to bring it to them.

To anoint him the savior, or the one on whom the Coyotes' fortunes will rise or fall, would be unfair to Bouman. But there's no question that the promise he showed last year and the pedigree he brought with him to Vermillion have USD fans optimistic he can be a big part of a red revolution in the southeast corner of the state.

"When you've got a returning guy at quarterback who carries himself the way Aidan does and has been good for you and now has been through a spring and summer providing the overall leadership that you want, it can be a rallying point for a football team," said USD coach Bob Nielson. "The games he played in last year were a tremendous benefit to him and a great base for him to improve on. He's poised to have a really good year for us in 2023."

Todd Bouman is a legend in southwest Minnesota. A star athlete at Russell-Tyler-Ruthton High School, he enrolled at South Dakota State to play basketball, then transferred to St. Cloud State in 1993, where he emerged as a high-flying guard on the Huskies basketball team and a strong-armed quarterback on the gridiron. Aidan smiles recalling some of the stories he's heard growing up about his dad's mythical feats of athleticism in various sports.

Though Todd's football career at SCSU was closer to good than great (he was merely honorable mention All-NCC as a senior), Dennis Green, then the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, was impressed with Bouman's pure athleticism. Bouman signed with his homestate team as an undrafted free agent in 1997 and ended up spending more than a decade in the NFL, mostly as a backup, but with some impressive moments sprinkled in. He threw for 384 yards and four touchdowns (including a 73-yarder to Randy Moss) to earn NFC player of the week honors in his first career start in 2001, and was named the starter for the final three games for the New Orleans Saints in 2005 (right before they brought in some guy named Drew Brees).

Aidan was born just before the end of his father's tenure with the Vikings, and to this day is a die-hard Baltimore Ravens fan from when his dad spent the 2008 season on their roster, following stints with the Packers, Jaguars and Rams. Aidan met Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and attended the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh.

"To this day Ed Reed is my favorite player," said Aidan, who is a nephew to Hall of Fame former Viking John Randle through marriage. "That was when it kind of hit me, like, this is so cool, my dad's in the NFL. Seeing those guys and being around them, being on the field, it was definitely like, this is what I want to do."

Late in his career, Bouman became something of an "on-call" emergency quarterback for Jacksonville, getting signed and released more than a half-dozen times between 2007-2010. Aidan remembers going to school Monday-through-Thursday and flying to Florida for the weekends to support his dad.

Bouman retired after the 2009 season and returned to the family home in Pipestone to serve as the assistant football coach (his brother, Troy, Aidan's uncle, was the head coach). But in 2010, the Jaguars, desperate for a quarterback due to injuries, called Bouman in October with an offer to start their game against the Chiefs in Kansas City. He hadn't played in an NFL game since 2005, and at 38 years old, knew the offer represented a last chance to take the field.

"He literally got called off the tractor on a Tuesday," Aidan says. "The whole family road-tripped down to Kansas City and wore his jersey to Arrowhead (Stadium). It was amazing. We all knew it was one last deal for him. I'll never forget it."

The Jags took a 42-20 beating from the Chiefs but Todd played respectably, capping off his 13-year NFL career by completing 18-of-34 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns.

"I've still got pics and videos of him and my daughter from that game," Todd said. "That's something you dream of — to be in the NFL and have your kid be old enough to understand what dad was doing. Those are memories I'll always cherish."

As far back as anyone can remember, Aidan wanted to be a quarterback, too. He remembers Todd teaching him three-and-five step drops when he was eight years old, and by the time he was in fourth grade he was showing signs of being special. And while he had the Bouman genes (the number of Boumans who excelled in sports in the area are too many to name), Aidan was bigger than all of them, always taller than his classmates.

"He always had a football in his hands," Todd remembers. "No matter where we were he always wanted to play catch with anybody, any time. I never had to push him. He wanted it. He was always asking questions, always picking my brain. It gradually became all he wanted to do."

When Aidan was in middle school the family moved to Buffalo, Minn., when Todd accepted the head coach position there.

In Aidan's freshman year of 2016, Buffalo's senior quarterback was suspended for the season opener, so Aidan got the start. He threw five touchdown passes, and a major prospect was officially born. Rather than wait for suitors to line up and compete for his services, Bouman committed to Iowa State as a sophomore. It was the first Division I offer he'd received.

"I just wanted that out of the way so I could focus on winning," Aidan says. "I loved Iowa State. It's where I wanted to be."

His plan certainly worked, as Bouman would complete a brilliant high school career, throwing for 3,475 yards and 41 touchdowns as a junior and 3,185 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior. Three times he threw seven touchdowns in one game, and tied the state record with eight in a game against Elk River. He ended his prep career with 9,578 yards and 94 touchdowns through the air.

"He just got better and better as he got older," Todd Bouman says. "He was such a football junkie and so smart as far as Xs and Os. It got comical how we'd call a play and he'd just change it at the line of scrimmage. He had a very advanced mental understanding of the game."

Having an NFL dad as a coach and mentor was something Aidan never took for granted. They watched games analytically, and Todd taught Aidan how to study film and read defenses. Aidan remembers his dad stressing the importance of not forcing the ball downfield, of throwing checkdowns and taking what the defense gives.

"It's funny, because a lot of times people think if you're the coach's kid you can do whatever you want but it's really the exact opposite," Todd says. "Being the coach's kid you're held to a different standard. You're never gonna let your kid get away with anything. There were times we'd be arguing on the sideline and he'd say you'd better smile or mom's gonna think we're mad at each other."

Bouman arrived at Iowa State in 2020 to a talented quarterback room. Brock Purdy (now of the 49ers) was entrenched as the starter, and Hunter Dekkers, a four-star recruit, was in Bouman's same recruiting class. Dekkers saw action in 2020, Bouman didn't, and after he was unable to pass Dekkers on the depth chart in the spring of 2022, he entered the transfer portal.

Bouman says he left amicably. No hard feelings, no mistreatment, no off-field problems. He just sought a better opportunity.

Josh Rosenthal had just joined USD as the program's director of player personnel after three years in a similar role at Iowa State. He'd gotten to know Bouman well in Ames, and when he heard he'd entered the portal, he was immediately interested.

"When he went in the portal I was super excited," said Rosenthal, who played at Concordia-St. Paul and got to know the Boumans while recruiting Aidan for the Cyclones. "He said he just wanted an opportunity to play and get a fresh start. I called my guys (at Iowa State) just to do your due diligence and it was a 2-minute conversation. There was no animosity. He did everything the right way and they were sad to see him go. When he came on his visit everyone from Coach Nielson on down fell in love with him."

With the ties Bouman's family has to SDSU (another uncle, Shane Bouman, was SDSU's softball coach from 2002-2007), he had interest in joining the Jackrabbits, but then-coach John Stiegelmeier said their quarterback room was full, with starter Mark Gronowski and promising youngsters Chase Mason, Jon Bell and Jeff Becker. That wouldn't have deterred Bouman, but the Coyotes were far more aggressive. He committed to USD soon after visiting.

"USD was in the mix the whole time," Bouman said. "I just really felt at home there. I was very happy to commit. This is where I belong."

The Coyotes already had an established quarterback in Carson Camp, who had emerged as the starter as a freshman in the 2021 spring season and led USD to the playoffs that fall, but Bouman's arrival was still big news. The coaching staff was thrilled and fans were excited to land a Big 12 transfer with NFL bloodlines.

"He's just exactly what you want in a college young man," Rosenthal said. "He's very selfless but very confident. When we were recruiting him at Iowa State the thing we saw was that he makes everyone around him better. At quarterback, on the basketball floor, he had that ability and that presence. He energized the guys around him. When he comes in a room everyone knows that's the guy who's gonna lead the team."

But the 2022 season quickly turned into a nightmare for USD. They had a grueling schedule to open the season — facing Kansas State and the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 teams in FCS all in the first month — and to make matters worse, offensive coordinator Ted Schlafke was removed just two weeks into the season, forcing Nielson to take over playcalling duties.

In a 28-3 loss at SDSU, Camp was just 5-of-12 for 44 yards and two interceptions. He was held to 117 yards a week later in a 12-10 loss to Illinois State that dropped the Yotes to 1-5. The temptation to take a look at Bouman was clearly growing, and when Camp struggled again the next week against Southern Illinois, Nielson made the move, inserting Bouman with 2:43 left in the first half and USD trailing 21-7.

He led the Coyotes to a field goal before halftime, then completed all five pass attempts on the opening drive of the second half and finding Wes Eliodor for his first career touchdown pass to make it 21-17. Bouman ended up 11-of-17 for 120 yards and the Coyotes knocked off the 14th-ranked Salukis for a 27-24 homecoming win.

"It was really a great feeling," Bouman said of his debut. "I was in my third year but it was my first time actually playing in a college football game. I wasn't nervous at all — it was very calming. It was like, this is what I've been waiting for. I was just so ready."

The defense melted down a week later in a loss to Youngstown State but Bouman was solid in his first start, going 17-of-30 for 254 yards with a passing and rushing touchdown, and he completed 17-of-25 for 235 yards and two scores in a win over Missouri State the next week. He'd fire three touchdown passes in a hard-fought loss at UND the following game, but then the wheels fell off in the season finale against Northern Iowa.

USD trailed 49-7 at halftime and fell 58-14 in a game that was surrounded by questions about whether Nielson would return in 2023.

The Coyotes announced immediately after the game that he would, and for the team, it wasn't hard to quickly turn the page.

"That was embarrassing," Bouman says of the loss to UNI. "But we put it behind us. One good thing that happened last year was once we knew we were out of the playoff race we were able to just go play football, and it felt like we became a lot closer as a team. On one hand that game was so bad you just want to forget it, but on the other hand it's a big motivator."

Two days later, Camp entered the transfer portal. He's now at Sacramento State. Bouman and the coaches credit Camp for being nothing but supportive after the switch. But it's the lefty's team now.

"We're glad he's with us," said Coyotes guard Isaac Erbes. "He came in knowing there was another quarterback here and earned his spot. He went out and met the competition and when he got his chance he showed he can do what it takes to win football games. What stood out to me about him was how we'd be in a bad situation and he'd calm us down. He showed us the mental way to handle adversity. He's not just a great quarterback, he's a true leader."

Now, with four games of experience under his belt and having proven he can run a college offense, Bouman is ready to turn the Coyotes into a contender in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. USD has weapons at running back and receiver, a solid offensive line, and Davis is all-in on Bouman to run the show. When Nielson was interviewing coordinator candidates, building around Bouman with an offense that moved somewhat away from a college spread style to a more balanced, pro-style scheme was a priority.

Davis said the chance to work with and mold Bouman was one of the things that made the job attractive. Bouman is old enough that the staff feels like they can put a lot on his plate, but having only played a few games there's still plenty of room to improve and no bad habits to eliminate.

"I really appreciate his attention to detail," Davis said. "He's a perfectionist. We've talked about moving on to the next play but he just doesn't like making mistakes. He has great command of the huddle and he's a really good communicator. It's great to have someone with his tools and experience and upside. He's really coming along."

Running quarterbacks are all the rage these days, and Bouman isn't exactly built for that. But he bristles at being labeled a pocket passer, and has impressed Davis and Nielson with his mobility. He won't necessarily be a rushing threat, but he can keep plays alive while keeping his eyes downfield better than most. His size is an advantage, too.

"I'm 6-6 and 250 pounds," Bouman says pointedly. "I'm not afraid to put my head down and run people over."

The best team USD has had in the Division I era was the 2017 team that won eight games and reached the second round of the playoffs. That team was carried by its quarterback, dual-threat star Chris Streveler, who is now a New York Jet. Streveler had incredible tools and a cocksure personality that could handle the weight of carrying the team.

Bouman is a different style of quarterback, but there are parallels.

"He has some of the intangibles about him that Chris did," Nielson said. "He has the ability to elevate. I've said this all the time, Chris was one of those guys who just by being on the field made the other guys on the field better. That's what you want in your quarterback and that's the step for Aidan to take this year. To be that guy who not only plays well but those other 10 guys play better because of him."

It might seem like a lot of pressure, especially when the Valley is so loaded that playoff-caliber teams can find themselves losing more games than they win. But pressure is something Aidan says he's been living with his whole life, and that every quarterback faces to some degree.

"Nobody's gonna put more pressure on me than I put on myself," he says. "If you're a quarterback that comes with the job. That's always how it's gonna be."

That's one of the lessons he learned from his father. Todd notes that playing varsity as a freshman was pressure as well. And Nielson said where it's most apparent that Aidan had an NFL dad is in how he handles those expectations, how he carries himself and how he presents himself to teammates and coaches. He isn't just a potential game-changing quarterback, but a potential program-changing player.

Given the exposure he had to the NFL as a youngster and everything he learned and inherited from his father, Aidan of course harbors NFL aspirations, and neither he nor Todd shy from talking about that. But they know it will only come to fruition if he does what the Coyotes brought him to Vermillion to do.

"You'll never make it to the NFL if you don't think you can," Aidan says. "But I'm focused on being the best Coyote I can right now and helping us win games. This program is so hungry to win. We're very aware of the situation. SDSU just won the national championship. North Dakota State has won a bunch of them. We're not there right now, but I see no reason we can't get to that level sooner than later. The pieces are in place to contend for a championship."