College Football: Top 50 players for 2017

The 2016 American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Quinton Flowers is a human highlight reel. However, there isn’t anything about his passing stat line that seems all that remarkable. He’s a competent thrower that has limited bad mistakes and kept his interception totals down. Then you watch highlight videos like this:

He is a dynamic runner with athleticism on par with the likes of Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson. Flowers had just 41 fewer rushing yards than Jackson in 2016.

It will be interesting to watch what his development looks like under new head coach Charlie Strong. Former head coach Willie Taggert rode the Bull’s 11-2 record in 2016 to a new position as the head man at Oregon. While Strong has never been explicitly labeled a “quarterback whisperer”, he did coach up Texas quarterback Shane Buechele into a viable division one starter.

Now combine Flowers, already one of the better runners at the quarterback position, with another year of experience and coaching. He stands a good chance to progress enough as a passer in 2017 to garner attention at a national level. However, if that’s going to happen he’s going to have to do something spectacular and carry USF to a New Year’s Six Bowl. The Bull’s most high-profile contest in 2017? A September 21 game with Illinois.

Flowers can’t control the schedule. He’s going to take the field in 2017 ready to run circles around defenders. The Bulls have conference-title aspirations this season and those hopes will rest on the shoulders of their senior quarterback.