Tay Gowan (born January 7, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

and was drafted by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

in the sixth round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early life and high school

Gowan grew up in

Covington, Georgia Covington is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia and the seat of Newton County, and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, its population 14,113. History Covington was founded by European immigrants to the United Stat ...

and attended Newton High School. As a high school senior, he earned First-team All-State honors as a defensive back after posting four interceptions and 15 pass breakups.

College career

Gowan began his collegiate career at

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

, where he redshirted as a true freshman and saw little playing time the following season. He left the program after his redshirt freshman season and enrolled at

Butler Community College Butler Community College (BCC) is a public community college in El Dorado, Kansas. Campus There are a number of branch campuses throughout the area, in Andover, Council Grove, Marion, McConnell, Rose Hill, and a number of distance-learning ...

. In his lone season at Butler, he intercepted six passes and was named All-Jayhawk Conference. Gowan committed to transfer to the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. Gowan began his first season with the

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

as a reserve defensive back, but became a starter due to injuries. He finished the season with 31 tackles, two interceptions, eight passes broken up and one fumble recovery while allowing 20 catches on 50 passes thrown into his coverage. Gowan opted out of the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and declared early for the

Professional career

Arizona Cardinals

Gowan was drafted by the

in the sixth round, 223rd overall, of the

. Gowan signed his four-year rookie contract with Arizona on May 25, 2021.

Philadelphia Eagles

Gowan was traded along with a fifth round pick in the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

to the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in exchange for tight end

Zach Ertz Zachary Adam Ertz (born November 10, 1990) is an American football tight end for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft and later won Supe ...

on October 15, 2021. He was waived on August 30, 2022.

Minnesota Vikings

Gowan signed with the Vikings practice squad on September 1, 2022. Gowan was elevated to active roster from the practice squad on November 19, 2022. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 16, 2023.

References

External links

UCF Knights bioMinnesota Vikings bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gowan, Tay 1998 births Living people Arizona Cardinals players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area American football cornerbacks UCF Knights football players Butler Grizzlies football players Miami RedHawks football players People from Covington, Georgia Minnesota Vikings players