Quinton Flowers Joins USF Hall of Fame
Last week, Quinton Flowers a former USF QB, was inducted into the USF athletics Hall of Fame. Flowers joins USF Hall of Fame with a highly touted group and is one of the selections for the 2022 class.
Career at USF
Flowers played for the Bulls from 2014-2017. To say the least, Flowers put the Bulls back on the map through his time wearing green and gold. Flowers saw little action in his freshman year but burst onto the scene in 2015 his sophomore year. USF went from a whopping 4-8 when he was a freshman to 8-5 when he took the ropes as a sophomore in 2015. Flowers, as a sophomore, threw 162 completions out of 275 attempts for 2290 yards and 22 touchdowns along with 8 interceptions. He ran 191 times for 991 yards and 12 touchdowns. This was the first time since 2010 that USF was bowl eligible.
In his junior year threw 207 completions out of 331 attempts for 2812 yards and 24 touchdowns along with 7 interceptions. Along with his good passing number, he ran 198 times for 1530 yards along with 18 touchdowns. The Bulls in his junior year had then gone from 8-5 to now 11-2 with a win coming in the Birmingham Bowl against South Carolina. In this span, Quinton with the help of a couple of other key players had now turned a 4-8 USF team to now an 11-2 highly touted USF squad. USF for the first time since 2010 was back on the map as not just a contender in the AAC, but a driving force in the FBS.
Flowers in his final season with the Bulls threw 188 completions out of 354 attempts for 2911 yards and 25 touchdowns as well as 6 interceptions. He also ran 196 times for 1078 yards along with 11 touchdowns. Yet again for the third straight season Flowers had led the Bulls to a Bowl game. They got into the Birmingham Bowl. Flowers capped off his senior season with a win over Texas tech 38-34. His touchdown to interception ratio only went up from his sophomore year to his senior year. This would be the last time he wore the green and gold on the field for USF.
Accolades
Through his time with the Bulls Flowers had earned many honors and awards. He added all-conference and team awards to his resume. Starting in 2015 Flowers won USF team MVP, two-time CFPA Performer of the week awards, two-time Manning award stars of the week selection, three-time O’Brien Award “Great 8” Quarterback honoree, and five-time American Conference Offensive Player of The Week.
In 2016 he was awarded 2016 Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award Finalist, 2016 Walter Camp Player Of The Year Award Semifinalist, 2016 Florida Offensive Player of the Year (Miami Herald), 2016 Birmingham Bowl MVP, 2016 First Team All-Conference, 2016 American Conference Offensive Player Of The Year, 2016 College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) Performer Of The Year.
In 2017 he was awarded 2017 Athlon Sports Individual Performance of the Year (at UCF), 2017 Birmingham Bowl MVP, 2017 Florida Offensive Player of the Year (Miami Herald), 2017 ESPN All-Bowl Team, and 2017 Second Team All-Conference.
What Made Flowers Different
Through three seasons of starting for the Bulls, Flowers had a lot of big games. He helped put the Bulls back on the map after four straight losing seasons from 2010-2014. Flowers was mobile which made him stand out a lot. People thought of him as another version of Lamar Jackson. The two had comparable throwing skills as well.
He earned praise for truly helping the team get back to their days of winning. The Bulls ranked #21 in the country at the end of Quinton’s career.
One of the Best
At the end of the day, Flowers was truly one of the best to wear the green and gold. Some people may believe that he was the best player to ever wear a USF jersey. That fact is arguable, but regardless, Quinton did things that very few players did for USF. He worked hard and really gained traction for the team. USF had four straight years of losing before Flowers was named the starter. But once that happened a star was born.
