Justin Flowe remembers when he was a 5-star football prospect at Upland High in California, when he was ranked the nation’s top inside linebacker, when he was the 2019 Butkus Award prep winner and the All-USA Defensive Player of the Year by USA Today.
He remembers when Dan Mullen strolled into his school’s weight room while on a recruiting visit as the head coach for Florida.
“He had the best drip ever,” Flowe said. “Coach Mullen walked in with the flyest drip in the world. He has always been that guy for me.”
The flyest drip.
That’s a good thing.
Flowe is 24 and a fifth-year senior playing for Mullen at UNLV, where the player arrived last season after stints at Oregon and Arizona.
He would put up very modest numbers for the Rebels — 14 tackles (one for loss) and a pass breakup — and decided to enter the transfer portal.
But he instead returned to UNLV, sitting out spring practice before re-enrolling in school this summer. It has been quite a journey for a player who received his first college scholarship offer in 2017.
Quite the roller-coaster of emotions and results.
Changing positions
“Sitting out (spring practice) and knowing I couldn’t bring my effort and my energy was (tough),” Flowe said. “(Teammates) would be talking to me, saying ‘We’re ready for you to come back.’ I used that time to charge up so that when it was time, I’d be ready to go.
“Time flies. That’s why I always say you have to put every second into football.”
He said one reason for entering the portal was the idea that his position would be switched from linebacker to a more hybrid role, one where you also function as an edge rusher from a defensive end spot.
Now, he loves it.
It actually might be made for him, a player with as much energy as Flowe, whose motor never seems to pause. He just keeps going.
“He’s a great kid,” Mullen said. “He’s had injuries throughout his career. I’m glad he’s back and able to play with us. Hopefully, he will have a great year and finish his college career on a really high note.
“He plays really hard and one great thing you can say about Justin is he worries about going hard. He doesn’t worry about all the other stuff. For an older player, and the maturity with how he’s grown, he’s a guy I have so much respect for.
“People need to remember he was a Top 10 national player and his career probably hasn’t gone how maybe everyone would have drawn it up on paper and designed it to go. That could have gotten frustrating.”
Instead, Mullen said, Flowe decided to play to the best of his ability. Not to worry about what might have been. That it showed the character of the player. That it’s a great lesson for the entire roster to follow.
And so Flowe is enamoured with coming off the edge, with going one-on-one with a lineman, with having his eyes set on a quarterback he’s determined to bring down.
He has played linebacker since he was 6, so this change isn’t just some small tweak.
WWE future?
“I can see this as my position now,” Flowe said. “I’m ready to go and do it. I have an arsenal. Taking care of my sleep, taking care of my film, taking care of working out. Every second is about football. This is my life. This is what I want to do.”
There is something else he might want to do.
Flowe is a massive WWE fan and has spoken about a post-football career in wrestling entertainment.
“I have been talking to them for a while, but the main goal is still the main goal, and that’s the NFL,” Flowe said. “But if the (WWE) happens, it happens.”
For now, he is back at UNLV, back playing a new position, back competing for the coach with the flyest drip in the world.
“I feel like my family is at UNLV,” Flowe said. “I feel like I should ramp things up every day. The ceiling never stops. I need to elevate every day.”
He, the old man of the group.
Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
