2026 Bowling Green Purples

 

Bowling Green enjoyed great success during a 5-year run from 2020 through the 2024 Season (2021 was a rebuilding year with a young team).  A lot of bills came due for the Purples in 2025 and they paid them including:

-          Injuries (to a degree I can’t recall a season similar),

-          Over-scheduling (Scheduling is a tough business and to get tested is a good thing and needed; but to put every non-district game vs the 2A finalist, 3A Champion, 4A Finalist, 5A Semi-Finalist, and 6A finalist is a gauntlet),

-          Freshman QB (young Anthony Davis played admirably well for a Freshman, but truth is he was 4^th string during 2025 Spring ball and basically just out of Junior High),

-          Penalties (how many big gains and TDs were erased for holding and other penalties?  Too numerous to count!)

-          No Jungle D (this one hurts, as the last game in the Regional Finals saw time and again BG get out-flanked to the edge giving up nearly 300 yards and 4 TDs rushing vs Atherton.  Was Atherton better that night?  Yes.  5 TDs better?  No IMO.  BG defense only forced 15 turnovers in 2025; they forced 30 in 2024.)

You are not going to win them all, and you are not going to win the 15^th game every year, but the 2025 Purples team had the skill guys to compete for the 15^th game and simply didn’t get there.  Was not meant to be.

2025 Quick Recap

Not a lot went right for Bowling Green really the entire year.  Star WR Travey Barber went down to a lengthy injury early in the first quarter of the first game vs OCath and that really set the tone for the whole year.  BG had to adjust at QB for the first 3 games vs very solid opponents and finally found the best option in Freshman Anthony Davis.  And the young man played admirably well being thrown in that environment vs top teams each week.  But the offense never really clicked, even though some rushing lanes did open somewhat later in the year.  And defensively, Bowling Green tried many combinations but didn’t have a lot of cohesive luck there either.  And with that the Purples ended with their first losing season since 2002.  Just the facts.  A disappointing end to a great 4 year run for the 2025 Senior Class who played 58 games in their 4 years wearing Royal Purple and Old Gold.  Thank you, 2025 Seniors!

2026 Returning Player Status

Offense:  BG loses a lot of significant skill guys including top talent WR Travey Barber, who was robbed of a stellar senior season due to injury IMO.  Also gone include 2-way star Jaxon Smith, Tre Graham (both of whom contributed since their sophomore years), and solid WRs like Hudson Nottmeier and Ethan Kirkwood.  3 OLinemen also graduate.

Returning includes rising SO QB Anthony Davis (and I think the game will slow down a bit for him this season), RB Nick Graham, TE Reed Gathright and 2 OLinemen.  Rising SOs Zyrek Burton should see some action at RB.  And there are some talented younger Purples who will be vying for a starting role at WR in 2026.

Defense:  BG loses 4 of their top 5 tacklers including multi-year contributors LB Montez Trussell, DL Malik Coburn and DB Andru Jones.  Those are really good football players.  But the next 8 tacklers return for 2026.  And I will add, this unit just did not gel the way past Purples defenses did.

2026 Schedule

BG will play a very challenging schedule which will flip-flop home and away games from their 2025 schedule including 6A Bullitt East at the Rafferty’s Bowl at WKU, at St. X, Scott County, South Warren, Christian Academy of Louisville, at Greenwood and Franklin County.  A tall task, but this year most of those games will be at Bowling Green, which should help a little.

2026 Outlook

Like my friend @BillNye said in another thread, Bowling Green will have a lot of questions to answer in 2026.  Who will be catching passes from young Anthony Davis?  How will their Oline play go?  The 5 departing seniors on defense made a lot of plays for BG; who will step into those shoes?  Truth be told, I felt BG got pushed around more than I can recall.  Can they reverse that?  It's an important off season in the weight room for BG.

Those are the tough issues for sure.  But at no time in program history has so many young players been given SO much time on the varsity field.  For example, 3 (count them) 3 Freshman started for basically the entire back half of the season.  That has NEVER happened before.  Those freshmen include QB Anthony Davis, OLB Zyrek Burton, and SS Jett Reynolds.  Those guys are solid.  And I feel there are a lot of other strong young players behind them capable as well but not proven on the varsity stage.  And the varsity stage BG is stepping on has a high threshold and is not an easy learning ground for the young guys.  But sink or swim, I think BG has to go with those young talented guys.  It’s going to be interesting.  Could BG start 0 and 4 for the second straight year?  Goodness, I hope not, but Bullitt East (WKU), at St. X, Scott County and South Warren aren’t chopped liver.

What say you?

Looking forward to the trip to BG this year! Good luck this season, stay healthy!

Great job, 88!

BGHS fans (including me!) have been very spoiled the last few DECADES. 
 

Last season was the FIRST season where the, “You don’t rebuild, you reload” statement was not true for the Purples. I don’t think you can name 3 or 4 programs in all of the Bluegrass that has had more recent success than Bowling Green. 
 

The Purples must have a dominant offensive line next season. If they don’t, we will have the same record as we had this past season. I know we have other areas that need improvement, but it begins with the offensive line, in my opinion. 
 

I never thought we would have to rebuild due to such tremendous success we have experienced but …. we are now back to reality. 
 

We can climb to the top again but it will not be immediate. I do think we have a solid QB at the helm. 
 

Again, spoiled is the word that comes to my mind. 98% of teams would love to have the success we have had. 
 

I’m ready to be spoiled again! Regardless, I’ll always be on the 50 yard line rooting for the Purple and Gold. 

On 1/6/2026 at 12:42 PM, Purple88 said:

          2026 Bowling Green Purples

 

Bowling Green enjoyed great success during a 5-year run from 2020 through the 2024 Season (2021 was a rebuilding year with a young team).  A lot of bills came due for the Purples in 2025 and they paid them including:

-          Injuries (to a degree I can’t recall a season similar),

-          Over-scheduling (Scheduling is a tough business and to get tested is a good thing and needed; but to put every non-district game vs the 2A finalist, 3A Champion, 4A Finalist, 5A Semi-Finalist, and 6A finalist is a gauntlet),

-          Freshman QB (young Anthony Davis played admirably well for a Freshman, but truth is he was 4^th string during 2025 Spring ball and basically just out of Junior High),

-          Penalties (how many big gains and TDs were erased for holding and other penalties?  Too numerous to count!)

-          No Jungle D (this one hurts, as the last game in the Regional Finals saw time and again BG get out-flanked to the edge giving up nearly 300 yards and 4 TDs rushing vs Atherton.  Was Atherton better that night?  Yes.  5 TDs better?  No IMO.  BG defense only forced 15 turnovers in 2025; they forced 30 in 2024.)

You are not going to win them all, and you are not going to win the 15^th game every year, but the 2025 Purples team had the skill guys to compete for the 15^th game and simply didn’t get there.  Was not meant to be.

2025 Quick Recap

Not a lot went right for Bowling Green really the entire year.  Star WR Travey Barber went down to a lengthy injury early in the first quarter of the first game vs OCath and that really set the tone for the whole year.  BG had to adjust at QB for the first 3 games vs very solid opponents and finally found the best option in Freshman Anthony Davis.  And the young man played admirably well being thrown in that environment vs top teams each week.  But the offense never really clicked, even though some rushing lanes did open somewhat later in the year.  And defensively, Bowling Green tried many combinations but didn’t have a lot of cohesive luck there either.  And with that the Purples ended with their first losing season since 2002.  Just the facts.  A disappointing end to a great 4 year run for the 2025 Senior Class who played 58 games in their 4 years wearing Royal Purple and Old Gold.  Thank you, 2025 Seniors!

2026 Returning Player Status

Offense:  BG loses a lot of significant skill guys including top talent WR Travey Barber, who was robbed of a stellar senior season due to injury IMO.  Also gone include 2-way star Jaxon Smith, Tre Graham (both of whom contributed since their sophomore years), and solid WRs like Hudson Nottmeier and Ethan Kirkwood.  3 OLinemen also graduate.

Returning includes rising SO QB Anthony Davis (and I think the game will slow down a bit for him this season), RB Nick Graham, TE Reed Gathright and 2 OLinemen.  Rising SOs Zyrek Burton should see some action at RB.  And there are some talented younger Purples who will be vying for a starting role at WR in 2026.

Defense:  BG loses 4 of their top 5 tacklers including multi-year contributors LB Montez Trussell, DL Malik Coburn and DB Andru Jones.  Those are really good football players.  But the next 8 tacklers return for 2026.  And I will add, this unit just did not gel the way past Purples defenses did.

2026 Schedule

BG will play a very challenging schedule which will flip-flop home and away games from their 2025 schedule including 6A Bullitt East at the Rafferty’s Bowl at WKU, at St. X, Scott County, South Warren, Christian Academy of Louisville, at Greenwood and Franklin County.  A tall task, but this year most of those games will be at Bowling Green, which should help a little.

2026 Outlook

Like my friend @BillNye said in another thread, Bowling Green will have a lot of questions to answer in 2026.  Who will be catching passes from young Anthony Davis?  How will their Oline play go?  The 5 departing seniors on defense made a lot of plays for BG; who will step into those shoes?  Truth be told, I felt BG got pushed around more than I can recall.  Can they reverse that?  It's an important off season in the weight room for BG.

Those are the tough issues for sure.  But at no time in program history has so many young players been given SO much time on the varsity field.  For example, 3 (count them) 3 Freshman started for basically the entire back half of the season.  That has NEVER happened before.  Those freshmen include QB Anthony Davis, OLB Zyrek Burton, and SS Jett Reynolds.  Those guys are solid.  And I feel there are a lot of other strong young players behind them capable as well but not proven on the varsity stage.  And the varsity stage BG is stepping on has a high threshold and is not an easy learning ground for the young guys.  But sink or swim, I think BG has to go with those young talented guys.  It’s going to be interesting.  Could BG start 0 and 4 for the second straight year?  Goodness, I hope not, but Bullitt East (WKU), at St. X, Scott County and South Warren aren’t chopped liver.

What say you?

Great write up (as usual)!

I have followed Bowling Green’s program for many many years now. From middle school to high school. They’ve always been the standard I compare Owensboro too. With that being said at the middle school level our games have been really competitive most years. (Not so much at the high school level.) But I did notice a few years ago Owensboro Middle School seemed to really hammer the Purples. The talent level seemed to be really down. Are we now seeing that group of kids as rising Seniors and Juniors? Or has my memory betrayed me and that group of kids kept improving and won some previous titles??

On 1/6/2026 at 12:42 PM, Purple88 said:

          2026 Bowling Green Purples

 

Bowling Green enjoyed great success during a 5-year run from 2020 through the 2024 Season (2021 was a rebuilding year with a young team).  A lot of bills came due for the Purples in 2025 and they paid them including:

-          Injuries (to a degree I can’t recall a season similar),

-          Over-scheduling (Scheduling is a tough business and to get tested is a good thing and needed; but to put every non-district game vs the 2A finalist, 3A Champion, 4A Finalist, 5A Semi-Finalist, and 6A finalist is a gauntlet),

-          Freshman QB (young Anthony Davis played admirably well for a Freshman, but truth is he was 4^th string during 2025 Spring ball and basically just out of Junior High),

-          Penalties (how many big gains and TDs were erased for holding and other penalties?  Too numerous to count!)

-          No Jungle D (this one hurts, as the last game in the Regional Finals saw time and again BG get out-flanked to the edge giving up nearly 300 yards and 4 TDs rushing vs Atherton.  Was Atherton better that night?  Yes.  5 TDs better?  No IMO.  BG defense only forced 15 turnovers in 2025; they forced 30 in 2024.)

You are not going to win them all, and you are not going to win the 15^th game every year, but the 2025 Purples team had the skill guys to compete for the 15^th game and simply didn’t get there.  Was not meant to be.

2025 Quick Recap

Not a lot went right for Bowling Green really the entire year.  Star WR Travey Barber went down to a lengthy injury early in the first quarter of the first game vs OCath and that really set the tone for the whole year.  BG had to adjust at QB for the first 3 games vs very solid opponents and finally found the best option in Freshman Anthony Davis.  And the young man played admirably well being thrown in that environment vs top teams each week.  But the offense never really clicked, even though some rushing lanes did open somewhat later in the year.  And defensively, Bowling Green tried many combinations but didn’t have a lot of cohesive luck there either.  And with that the Purples ended with their first losing season since 2002.  Just the facts.  A disappointing end to a great 4 year run for the 2025 Senior Class who played 58 games in their 4 years wearing Royal Purple and Old Gold.  Thank you, 2025 Seniors!

2026 Returning Player Status

Offense:  BG loses a lot of significant skill guys including top talent WR Travey Barber, who was robbed of a stellar senior season due to injury IMO.  Also gone include 2-way star Jaxon Smith, Tre Graham (both of whom contributed since their sophomore years), and solid WRs like Hudson Nottmeier and Ethan Kirkwood.  3 OLinemen also graduate.

Returning includes rising SO QB Anthony Davis (and I think the game will slow down a bit for him this season), RB Nick Graham, TE Reed Gathright and 2 OLinemen.  Rising SOs Zyrek Burton should see some action at RB.  And there are some talented younger Purples who will be vying for a starting role at WR in 2026.

Defense:  BG loses 4 of their top 5 tacklers including multi-year contributors LB Montez Trussell, DL Malik Coburn and DB Andru Jones.  Those are really good football players.  But the next 8 tacklers return for 2026.  And I will add, this unit just did not gel the way past Purples defenses did.

2026 Schedule

BG will play a very challenging schedule which will flip-flop home and away games from their 2025 schedule including 6A Bullitt East at the Rafferty’s Bowl at WKU, at St. X, Scott County, South Warren, Christian Academy of Louisville, at Greenwood and Franklin County.  A tall task, but this year most of those games will be at Bowling Green, which should help a little.

2026 Outlook

Like my friend @BillNye said in another thread, Bowling Green will have a lot of questions to answer in 2026.  Who will be catching passes from young Anthony Davis?  How will their Oline play go?  The 5 departing seniors on defense made a lot of plays for BG; who will step into those shoes?  Truth be told, I felt BG got pushed around more than I can recall.  Can they reverse that?  It's an important off season in the weight room for BG.

Those are the tough issues for sure.  But at no time in program history has so many young players been given SO much time on the varsity field.  For example, 3 (count them) 3 Freshman started for basically the entire back half of the season.  That has NEVER happened before.  Those freshmen include QB Anthony Davis, OLB Zyrek Burton, and SS Jett Reynolds.  Those guys are solid.  And I feel there are a lot of other strong young players behind them capable as well but not proven on the varsity stage.  And the varsity stage BG is stepping on has a high threshold and is not an easy learning ground for the young guys.  But sink or swim, I think BG has to go with those young talented guys.  It’s going to be interesting.  Could BG start 0 and 4 for the second straight year?  Goodness, I hope not, but Bullitt East (WKU), at St. X, Scott County and South Warren aren’t chopped liver.

What say you?

Great write up! What do you believe to be the factors to the Purples getting pushed round, not gelling as a defensive unit and losing the “close” games they historically have been able to pull out? Can those factors be amended going into the 2026 season?

BG has a tough as an in-state schedule that you can have. Kudos for that.

On 1/6/2026 at 1:42 PM, Purple88 said:

2026 Schedule

BG will play a very challenging schedule which will flip-flop home and away games from their 2025 schedule including 6A Bullitt East at the Rafferty’s Bowl at WKU, at St. X, Scott County, South Warren, Christian Academy of Louisville, at Greenwood and Franklin County.  A tall task, but this year most of those games will be at Bowling Green, which should help a little.

Per the Bowling Green Athletics website:

Aug 7 vs. Oldham County (Scrimmage)
Aug 14 at Male (Scrimmage)
Aug 22 vs. Bullitt East (at WKU Rafferty's Bowl)
Aug 28 at St. Xavier
Sep 4 vs. Scott County
Sep 11 vs. South Warren
Sep 18 at Barren County (District)
Sep 25 vs. Christian Academy-Louisville
Oct 2 at Warren Central (District)
Oct 9 - BYE
Oct 16 at Greenwood (District)
Oct 23 vs. Grayson County (District)
Oct 30 vs. Franklin County

Bowling Green could’ve scheduled a tough schedule last year and went 8-2. Now was it their past success or just inability to get a lot of teams to play them they were forced to schedule a brutal group. And a combination of their talent being down a little and having one of the toughest schedules in the state led to a very poor season by BG’s standards.

Bump.

BGHS Class of 2029 QB Anthony Davis has recently picked up offers from EKU and U of L. Camp season seems to be off to a good start for this rising KY star. 

On 2/24/2026 at 1:43 AM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Per the Bowling Green Athletics website:

Aug 7 vs. Oldham County (Scrimmage)
Aug 14 at Male (Scrimmage)
Aug 22 vs. Bullitt East (at WKU Rafferty's Bowl)
Aug 28 at St. Xavier
Sep 4 vs. Scott County
Sep 11 vs. South Warren
Sep 18 at Barren County (District)
Sep 25 vs. Christian Academy-Louisville
Oct 2 at Warren Central (District)
Oct 9 - BYE
Oct 16 at Greenwood (District)
Oct 23 vs. Grayson County (District)
Oct 30 vs. Franklin County

?: Source

Any word on how the Purples are looking so far? It's been uncharacteristically quiet out there.

2 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

Any word on how the Purples are looking so far? It's been uncharacteristically quiet out there.

Uncertainty would be a good word. Not always a bad thing to fly under the radar but this defense is replacing a lot and is a big question mark for 2026. Although just a year removed from a State Championship it was a humbling 6-7 season last year. 2 wins in the playoffs isn’t the standard, many schools would cherish that achievement but this is just not a place where that is accepted. Very tough place to operate from but with success comes expectations, pressure is a privilege. Mentioned the young inexperienced defense, offensively it’ll be similar. I’d say it was beneficial for the Freshman last season but his 5 leading WR’s graduated, I’m sure some of the younger talent is capable to compete on the outside. However, if the OL hasn’t improved drastically none of that will matter and we may see another repeat from last season out of these Purples. A lot of what if’s surrounding a program that is usually easy to predict in the off season from a personnel perspective, will be hard to assess until the first scrimmage this year. 

They’ve had 3-4 of their top middle school players hold back and enroll at Glasgow because Bowling Green wouldn’t allow them to.