Recruiting ROI, No. 12: Dimitri Flowers

Every Tuesday and Thursday, SI Sooners will unveil a new installment in the Recruiting ROI series. Over the course of 10 weeks, the series will examine 20 Sooners over the last 20 years who dramatically exceeded expectations in the crimson and cream.

By the time Dimitri Flowers came of age in the state of Texas' fallow prep recruiting ground, the fullback position appeared obsolete.

Spread offense and up-tempo pace had become the new normal across college football, and the downhill, run-first mentality of ages past no longer seemed viable.

Is it a stretch to say that Flowers made fullbacks cool again?

He came to Oklahoma as a humble 3-star prospect, listed as an athlete but recruited to play H-back for Bob Stoops. Flowers ranked as the 108th overall player in the state of Texas and 832nd in the nation, per 247Sports' composite rankings. Though his father is former NFL defensive end Erik Flowers (a first-round draft pick back in 2000), not even Dimitri's prestigious lineage could earn him attention on the recruiting trail. In fact, Colorado was the only other Power 5 school to offer him.

Thus, Oklahoma's signing of Flowers didn't turn many heads. Here was a less-than-elite prospect who played a less-than-necessary position.

But it soon became evident that Stoops and the Sooner staff struck gold in the San Antonio native.

After enrolling early, Flowers started the season opener as a freshman in 2014, recording three catches for 24 yards in a win over Louisiana Tech. He'd go on to appear in all 13 games on the season, and his most notable contribution came on November 23.

On a soggy day in Norman, Flowers and future Green Bay Packer Aaron Ripkowski cleared the way as a freshman running back named Samaje Perine unleashed an assault on the history books. Behind Ripkowski and Flowers, Perine rushed for an FBS-record 427 yards, eclipsing the mark of 408 established just a week earlier by Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon.

Flowers again started all 13 games as a sophomore in 2015, recording his first collegiate touchdown against Texas and reeling in a 75-yard touchdown strike from Baker Mayfield against Iowa State. Come 2016, Flowers earned second-team All-Big 12 honors — and with one outstanding performance, the unwavering respect of Sooner Nation.

Oklahoma visited Iowa State on Nov. 3 with Joe Mixon suspended and Samaje Perine injured. Without his dynamic backfield tandem, Lincoln Riley — then the Sooners' offensive coordinator — turned to his jack-of-all-trades fullback.

Despite the fact that he'd never logged a single carry as a Sooner, Flowers started at halfback against the Cyclones, and his inexperience at the position would have been fully lost on anyone who didn't know better. The 6-foot-2, 245-pound bowling ball promptly racked up 115 yards on 22 totes, and added 33 receiving yards and a touchdown catch. Oklahoma prevailed 34-24, and after the game, Stoops heaped praise upon the junior.

"I told him in the locker room in front of the whole team, I don't believe I've ever seen a guy do all of that, what he did, so well in a game," Stoops raved. "And he had two days of practice to do it."

Come his senior year, Flowers took another quantum leap. He accounted for nine total TDs on just 40 touches, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors. His most memorable moment of the season came in the Sooners' grudge match against Ohio State.

With OU facing a 10-3 second-quarter deficit, No. 36 sauntered 36 yards to the promised land off a checkdown pass from Mayfield. Flowers' touchdown catch opened the floodgates, as Oklahoma routed the Buckeyes 31-16 en route to a third straight Big 12 title and second consecutive CFP berth.

His career in the crimson and cream ended in heartbreaking fashion, as the Sooners squandered a 17-point lead in the infamous 54-48 Rose Bowl loss to Georgia. Flowers hauled in an 11-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to knot the score at 38, and in doing so, he tied DeMarco Murray's school record for receiving TDs by a running back (13).

Flowers wasn't selected in the 2018 draft despite relatively strong measurables at the NFL Combine. He spent time on the New York Jets' practice squad, and briefly made an appearance on the Jacksonville Jaguars' active roster. However, he's never appeared in an NFL game.

In October 2019, Flowers signed with the Dallas Renegades of the short-lived XFL, where he reunited with Stoops. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and financial instability led the league to cease operations in March 2020, leaving Flowers without an employer.

Flowers tweeted in May that he planned to take the LSAT, so he's ostensibly preparing for a life after football. Though he hasn't officially retired, it appears that he's coming to the end of the road on the gridiron.

Today, Jeremiah Hall fills the role that Flowers himself carved out in the Sooner offense. Though the position may be a rarely utilized commodity in today's game, Oklahoma continues to employ the fullback. Hall has appeared in all 28 games in the two seasons since Flowers graduated, and earned second-team All-Big 12 honors in 2019. He's poised to remain a significant contributor in the Sooner offense come the 2020 season.

So yes, it's safe to say that Dimitri Flowers made fullbacks cool again.

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