treyflowersKittrell.JPG
South team defensive end Trey Flowers (86) of Arkansas practices for the Reese's Senior Bowl on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, in Fairhope, Ala. The collegiate all-star game is Saturday at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala. (Mike Kittrell/mkittrell@al.com)
(Mike Kittrell)
When Trey Flowers left Columbia High in Huntsville for Arkansas, he was joining a team fueled by Bobby Petrino's offense that was searching for more playmakers on defense. With no other SEC offers, the then-240-pound defensive end went to Fayetteville and earned Freshman All-SEC honors while starting three games on an 11-2 team.
"That was actually a perfect situation for me, because they said a freshman had to come in and be able to play," said Flowers, who is in Mobile this week competing in the Senior Bowl. "So for me to go in and compete against all the other freshmen and potentially win out, potentially being able to start a couple games, it worked out for me well."
Then the bottom fell out. Petrino was dismissed after failing to disclose the nature of his relationship with a football department staffer after both were involved in a motorcycle accident, and the team bottomed out under interim coach John L. Smith in 2012.
While Flowers had a strong sophomore season with six sacks and 13 tackles for loss, the Razorbacks' defense was among the worst in the conference and it improved only marginally in 2013 in Bret Bielema's first season as head coach. So when the time came for Flowers, who had blossomed into a 6-foot-2, 268-pound terror off the edge, to decide whether he'd leave early for the NFL, he says there's wasn't much of a decision to make at all.
"It actually wasn't that hard ... not wanting to leave with that bad taste in my mouth as far as the two seasons we had," said Flowers, who got a third-round grade from NFL evaluators as a junior. "I knew which way the program was going under coach Bielema. ... I just really wanted to see and to have the NFL factor into that decision.
"I didn't risk it. I just said my prayers and hopefully I improved it this year."
Flowers said he's getting even better feedback from the NFL after a senior year in which he led the Razorbacks with six sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss, while placing third on the team in tackles with 68. This week, he's in Mobile looking to improve his stock even more while competing on the South squad.
"I think I can prove my versatility as a pass rusher," he said of his goals for the week. "They say I'm just a power rusher; I like to bull. So if I'm able to show that I can use my hands, use my speed, I think that will help my draft stock."
And the bad taste of 2012 and 2013 was washed away with a 2014 season that saw the Razorbacks return to bowl play and finish with a 7-6 record. They capped the season with the SEC's only dominant defensive performance of the postseason, holding Texas to 59 total yards in a 31-7 Texas Bowl win.
Flowers said all the credit for the Arkansas defense's transformation from a liability to a strength goes to defensive coordinator Robb Smith.
"He talks about attitude and being a championship defense. He just brought that the locker room, every day preaching that right before the meetings," Flowers said. "The scheme that coach Smith runs, if all the guys buy in, that's what makes a difference. You can look at me, Martrell (Spaight) and (Darius) Philon and say those are great players, but we were using a pretty good scheme and that allowed us to be great."
"It was real good," he added of leaving college with a bowl win. "I actually train with a couple of guys from Texas, so (it's good) just being able to stick my chest out a little bit and have that smile on my face that we handled our business. That was a deep rivalry between Arkansas and Texas, so be able to get that for our fans and for Razorback Nation was big."