USF Football Player Profile: #9 QB Quinton Flowers

#9 QB Quinton Flowers - Senior, 6’0”, 210 lbs.

2016 Stats: Quinton Flowers may have had the best individual season in USF football history in 2016. The only possible comparison is to George Selvie’s 2007 season. Both were absolutely dominant at their position, and the only reason Flowers didn’t end up with as many honors as Selvie is because you basically have to win the Heisman to win a national quarterback award.

The numbers are incredible. Flowers started all 13 games. He completed 207 of 331 passes for 2812 yards and broke his own school record with 24 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions. He set the single-season rushing record with 1530 yards on 198 carries. Only Heisman winner Lamar Jackson had more rushing yards as a quarterback. He ran for 18 touchdowns (another school record) and averaged 7.7 yards per carry (4th in the country, and yet another school record). He broke 100 yards rushing eight times and became the first quarterback at a Florida school to throw for 2000 yards and run for 1000 yards in a season.

Against Memphis, Flowers turned in a performance that may never be topped in a USF uniform. He completed 24 of 29 passes for 263 yards and ran for 210 yards, becoming only the 14th player in FBS history to record a 200/200 game. He threw for two scores and ran for three, including the game-winner on a broken play with 1:46 to play in a 49-42 win.

In November, Flowers made the Walter Camp Award semifinal list. After the season, Quinton was named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, first-team all-conference, and USF’s team MVP. He also received the College Football Performance Awards National Performer of the Year based on “objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams.”

So back to that opening question... I put it out as a poll on Twitter. What do you think?

2015 Stats: Flowers started all 13 games at quarterback, the first time any QB had started every game in a season for the Bulls since 2008. Placed in a revamped offense built around his unique skills, he threw for 2296 yards and set a school record with 22 touchdown passes, with only eight interceptions. His TD-to-INT ratio in 2015 ranked third in USF history, and his 149.4 efficiency rating was second only to Chad Barnhardt. Quinton also set the Bulls’ single-season quarterback rushing record with 991 yards and scored 12 touchdowns on the ground, just one behind Andre Hall’s single-season mark. At the end of the season, he received USF’s team MVP award.

2014 Stats: Desperate to shake up his struggling team (and maybe desperate for his own reasons), Taggart took Flowers’ redshirt off in November and gave him his first start at SMU. The offensive system was awful, the weather in Dallas was terrible, and the Thursday night before the game, Flowers’ half-brother was killed in a seemingly random act of violence. All that turmoil led to a flat performance: 6 of 15 for 105 yards passing, and 33 yards rushing on four carries. He was pulled in the fourth quarter with USF trailing 13-0. For the season, Flowers played in five games and completed 8 of 20 passes for 111 yards, with no TDs and two interceptions. He also ran the ball 13 times for 73 yards.

How He Came To USF: Quinton played at Miami’s Jackson High School, where he threw for 6,042 yards and ran for 2,002 yards in his career. His junior year was his best, leading the Generals to the Class 5A state semifinals, where they lost to an Immokalee team starring four of his future USF teammates. Flowers had 2,152 yards passing and 562 yards rushing that season, with 11 rushing touchdowns.

Flowers had plenty of big college offers, but a lot of schools wanted him to change positions, which he didn’t want to do. USF promised him a chance to play quarterback all the way through. Even so, his recruitment was a bumpy one. He committed to the Bulls in June 2013, only to walk it back the same night. Willie Taggart and his staff didn’t give up on him, though. They got Quinton back on board in October, and held off Nebraska for his signature.

Recruiting Rankings: Flowers was a three-star quarterback recruit on 247 and Rivals, a three-star athlete recruit on ESPN, and a four-star wide receiver recruit on Scout.

Follow Him On... Flowers is on Twitter at @spottheball_9, and his Instagram is iamflowers9.