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Nick Bawden, a 6'3", 215-pound quarterback from Los Gatos, Calif., committed to San Diego State, and it happened to be the same weekend that he took a trip to Utah. Last week, Bawden attended camps at Fresno State who thought they had a solid lock on him, that was until Sunday. In fact, over a dozen schools west of the Mississippi including: Arkansas, Arizona State, BYU, Cal, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, San Jose State, SMU, UCLA, UNLV and Utah plus Dartmouth and Harvard had their eyes on him.
According to Rivals.com, Bawden visited SDSU this week and really connected with the coaches. He told the recruiting website that he likes how San Diego State appears to be a program on the rise, and that with coach Rocky Long signed to a five-year contract, there's reassuring stability at the helm of the ship. His commitment came less than two weeks after the Aztecs picked up a verbal from Carlsbad quarterback Christian Chapman, who turned down offers from BYU, Colorado State, SMU and Washington State to commit to the Aztecs.
Bawden was looking for a program that would allow him to be a leader on the field and a place with a pro/spread offense to show off his arm strength whether standing in the pocket or on the run. Bawden is a pro style quarterback, has a huge arm, good footwork but not blazing speed. He likes the Aztecs offense that allows him to throw from the pocket, spread out the field, read coverages and look for options.
Bawden exudes self confidence and has stressed that the Aztec program and environment was a deciding factor:
"You know, go somewhere that will give me ties for the rest of my life with long-time friends. A place with really good guys, not just a place to go and play football."
And it looks like Nick Bawden found that on Aztec Mesa. Bawden is the tenth Aztec commitment for the class of 2014 and the second quarterback commit. What a difference a year makes, at this time last year the Aztecs only had one commitment and this year ten. Its obvious that championships help recruiting and vice-a-versa.
Here are highlights of Bawden from his junior season: