Power 5 QB prospect Gavin Owens transfers from Wren. What's next for the Hurricanes?
Sophomore quarterback Gavin Owens will no longer don the blue and gold of the Wren Hurricanes. He announced on Twitter that he has transferred to Rabun Gap-Nacoochee High School in Georgia.
Wren coach Jeff Tate confirmed Owens' departure.
"I just want the best for Coach Tate and the team," Owens said via direct message. "I left on good terms. I had to do what was best for me and my family."
Owens, who according to 247Sports has offers from Louisville and Kentucky, passed for 1,863 yards with 14 touchdowns last season. Despite expecting to have Owens on the roster for three more seasons, Tate said the Hurricanes are prepared to adapt.
“Great family, good people, a heck of a kid. I hate to lose him, but we’ve still got to go on,” Tate said of Owens. “It’s not like we won’t be prepared. We got other kids that can play. Colton Bagwell played on the JV last year. He’s a sophomore and a heck of an athlete. Mason Holtzclaw, who is a rising freshman, he’s had a really, really good summer. Those are two guys that we know we can plug in there and run the offense. We’ll be fine.”
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The only returning player to complete a pass last season is Bagwell, who had one completion and just eight attempts on varsity, according to his stats on MaxPreps.
Senior receiver Trey Horne could have been a candidate to take over given his experience at quarterback. But Tate said Horne also is transferring to Rabun Gap-Nacoochee. Rabun Gap-Nacoochee is a private boarding and day school that competes in the North Carolina Independent Schools Association.
Owens’ departure may come as a surprise for the Hurricanes faithful. His older brother, Joe, was the quarterback on Wren's state championship team in 2019, so it seemed like Gavin Owens was right at home. But for Tate, a veteran coach, Owens’ move wasn’t a shock.
“After all of the years I’ve been in it, really, nothing surprises me,” Tate said. “Are you disappointed when you lose a good kid and a good player? Certainly you are. But you know what, they had football before I was coaching and before these guys were playing. And they’re going to have it when I’m not coaching and when they’re done playing.”
Joshua Miller covers high school sports for The Anderson Independent-Mail. Have questions, story ideas, scores and stats involving high school athletics? Send them to his email at jdmiller@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @NameIsJoshua
This article originally appeared on Anderson Independent Mail: Power 5 QB Gavin Owens transfers from Wren to Rabun Gap-Nacoochee
