Pete Forsee
Sports Editor
Most collegiate athletes are found by scouts shortly after they enter high school. College coaches can easily predict a player’s physical and mental development from a few games and a couple conversations.
This was not the case for senior running back Dante Flowers.
Flowers began playing football at the age of seven and stopped when he was 13 years old.
When he started high school, he resumed playing, working his way up to the varsity team his junior season in 2010. That fall, Flowers saw limited carries at tailback because of graduates Aaron Daniels and Ketrick Large.
“I always like to play with a chip on my shoulder, and I think it helped me watching and learning from Aaron and Ketrick,” said Flowers about the prior football season.
During his junior season he took a role on special teams to gain more recognition from the coaching staff to boost his offensive playing time.
This past winter Flowers lifted weights throughout the week and ran at Art Hill in Forest Park, saying his drive to become better came through lack of playing time and the 2010 State Championship game.
Teammates recognize Flower’s determination through the off-season training and currently during practice.
“Dante is a leader on and off the field. His dedication toward football is why he’s one of our team captains,” said senior linebacker Dontrail Johnson.
Johnson said he can see Flowers becoming a successful college cornerback and even better leader wherever he decides to play.
Now, at 5 foot 5 inches and 165 pounds Flowers is the starting running back for the Statesmen. As of press time, he’s second on the team in scoring with six touchdowns and has racked up over 300 rushing yards in Cliff Ice’s pass-first offense.
Flowers said the University of California Los Angeles and St. Xavier University are his dream schools to play college football. He added playing college football anywhere is his priority, but right now the focus is to catch the eye of college scouts from a breakout senior season and help his team win a State Championship.
