Justin Flowe Flashes in Freshman Debut for Oregon
In his first major playing time as a Duck, Justin Flowe did not disappoint. He led the team with 14 total tackles and forced a pivotal fumble in the fourth quarter that helped the Ducks take back control in a game that saw the defense bail out the offense multiple times.
Flowe’s Oregon coming out party came a year late following a torn meniscus. After overcoming that in the middle of a global pandemic, this is the best performance the Ducks have seen from a freshman linebacker since Troy Dye in 2016, and there’s no reason to believe Flowe won't continue to raise the bar.
“I feel like I can do way more, I’m just [gonna] keep working on my craft and I’m just gonna keep grinding with my teammates," Flowe told reporters following the win over Fresno State. "I thank God, because I had a torn meniscus and I came back and I just wanna do what I gotta do to help the team.”
This was also Flowe’s first game in front of fans as a college player, and he introduced himself to the Autzen Stadium crowd in a big way.
“It felt unreal, the fans were jumping and the feeling in Autzen Stadium was something that I dreamed about,” Flowe said. “It was just an honor to be out there."
Part of the reason Flowe was asked to play a big role Saturday was because of an apparent leg injury to Dru Mathis, who was listed as a co-starter alongside Flowe in the week 1 organizational chart. With that injury, Flowe will be seeing full starter reps next to Noah Sewell.
“My teammate Dru, I pray for him and everything, that’s my guy and we’re gonna keep it pushing,” Flowe said.
The key play on defense was in the fourth quarter. With the Ducks down by three and needing a big play to turn the momentum around, Flowe came up huge with a forced fumble to give the offense a short field. That short field turned into a field goal that tied the game.
“I just know the quarterback likes to scramble, so when I seen him scramble I just take off and I knew what I had to do. I know it was a situation where I had to get the ball out.” Flowe said. “So I just came in and got the ball out."
It's clear that when Flowe is on the field he plays with a certain anger and chip on his shoulder. That energy spreads to the rest of the team and is fun to watch. He's out there going 100% all of the time, and he has been doing that for a long time.
“I think just my whole life playing linebacker, I just wanted to be the aggressive type and I just wanted to be me and that’s just me--how I play.” Flowe said. “So I just try to bring it, every time I get on the field, and that’s just what I do.”
Sometimes, that fire and aggressiveness can go too far if unchecked, and that happened late in the first half as a late hit penalty bailed Fresno State out and led to a touchdown to make it a one-score game going into halftime. While the play could have been worse and resulted in an ejection, it still hurt the Ducks and changed the momentum of the game.
“I just feel like in certain situations I always play aggressive, and sometimes I gotta hold off a little bit. But my game is just to go go go.” Flowe said of his pedal to the metal play style. “I just want to do what I can do to help the team. I just go and I bring that passion. So sometimes I gotta work on just slowing it down a little bit and just holding it off a little bit on those certain type of situations.”
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