The wheel continues to spin for South Florida’s circle of quarterbacks.
USF (3-6, 2-3 AAC) head coach Willie Taggart announced Tuesday that true freshman Quinton Flowers will be the Bulls’ starter for Saturday’s matchup with SMU (0-8, 0-4 AAC).
Flowers is the fourth quarterback to garner at least one start for the Bulls since often-injured four-year starter B.J. Daniels last played in 2012, and he’s the third QB to take starting snaps in 2014 from a group that has combined for 183.8 yards per game (104th in NCAA), a 48.0 completion percentage, and eight touchdowns to 11 interceptions.
For those keeping track at home, here’s how the musical chairs of South Florida’s QB line-up has played out in 2014: Mike White started Week 1, then was replaced by Steven Bench in Week 2; come Week 3, White was back as the starter and proceeded to start until he was replaced — again — by Bench in Week 11. Now Flowers is the guy — at least for this week.
Did any of that make sense? Yeah, I’m still trying to connect the dots.
Flowers has only thrown five passes this season and two of his throws went to the opposite jersey color. But unless you’re an avid South Florida fan (any takers?), you probably didn’t realize that Flowers is a former four-star recruit (247Sports) from Miami, Fla., who gained interest from college football stalwarts Nebraska and Alabama, among others. The Crimson Tide actually offered Flowers a scholarship, but the mobile QB decided to stay in the sunshine state and play for a team that would keep him at quarterback instead of switching him to wide receiver.
“I really wanted to go to a place that wanted me to come in as a quarterback,” Flowers said. “I loved what the USF coaches were about and how excited they were about my talent. I think I can help get their program to the next level.”
Flowers will get his shot on Saturday to lift South Florida to the next level. At this point in the season, that “next level” is only a fourth win and defeating an 0-8 conference foe.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSmS3lJchSs]The freshman Flowers could be USF’s football savior who helps bring the program back to competing for conference championships, but, unfortunately, program saviors aren’t born from playing teams with eggs in the win column.
Taggart seems to believe in his talented freshman QB.
“He can run with the football but he can also throw the football,” Taggart said. “He does it very smoothly. Tremendous athlete. I think he’s gonna give our team a boost and hopefully give us some more offense than what we’ve been producing.”
Considering White and Bench’s ineptitude at the position has been a season-long experience (each QB is completing less than 50 percent of their passes), why did it take this long for Taggart to make another change?
The most logical explanation — albeit still presumptuous — is that Taggart realizes his tenure as USF’s head coach will be over after next season if the team doesn’t show improvement. The Bulls are still in the bowl hunt at 3-6, but Taggart knows the likelihood of the Bulls missing a fourth straight bowl game is high with games against 6-3 Memphis and defending AAC champion UCF left to play.
All Taggart can do now is plan for the future, and the future as well as his job security rests on the shoulders of his highly-touted, young QB.
So there you have it, Flowers. All you have to do is lead the Bulls from the bottom half of the American, become the face of South Florida football, and help save Willie Taggart’s job.
No pressure, right?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
