Being a ‘tweener’ is OK with NFL prospect Flowers

Arkansas ranked among the top defenses in the nation last season, shutting out LSU and Ole Miss in consecutive weeks.

The Razorbacks finished with the 10th-best defense in the country, and a prominent player on it was defensive end Trey Flowers.

Flowers led the team with 15 1/2 tackles for loss, six sacks and nine quarterback hurries. For the season, he ranked third with 68 tackles.

That type of production is certainly coveted at the next level, but questions remain about Flowers’ size. At 6-foot-3, 270 pounds, he carries the dreaded “tweener” label. That is not the ideal size for an NFL edge rusher, of course, but his saving grace could be his gigantic wingspan at more than 84 inches.

And there’s no questions about Flowers’ athleticism after a video of his 55-inch box jump went viral.

Flowers almost turned pro after his junior season, but decided to return after the NFL Draft Advisory Board gave him a third-round draft grade.

He also wanted to help the Razorbacks turn their program around. And he did. The Hogs were 3-9 in 2013 and finished 7-6 last season with a 31-7 victory over Texas in the Texas Bowl.

It was the Razorbacks’ first winning season since 2011.

Flowers, who is training at the Michael Johnson Performance Center, has been invited to this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, which began Tuesday in Indianapolis. The defensive linemen do not work out until Sunday.

How has training gone for you so far? It’s going real good, working with Michael Johnson, one of the best Olympians of all time, just teaching technique as far as how to run and how to run fast. So I feel like I’ve definitely improved.

What do you need to improve upon the most? Improving my speed is my main thing. A lot of guys see me as a more physical player and quick and might not see me as a fast guy, so that’s why I’m here training to be fast.

Is it important to drop that ‘tweener’ label? No. I don’t really pay attention to it. I don’t necessarily want to drop it. That may be a good thing for me to play in a variety of defenses, and if I can show my versatility, my elusiveness as far as covering guys and sometimes occasionally coming down rushing the passer and setting the edge, stopping the run, I’m all for that. I just want to have a whole variety, no limits to what I can do out there on the field.

What’s the biggest thing you take away from your college career? Just playing in the SEC, one of the big-time conferences, playing defensive end at that level, you have to be a dominant run stopper. It’s a running league. You got the Alabamas, the LSUs, the big-time running offenses, so just to be able to be a dominant defense, you’ve got to be able to stop the run. So that’s one of the things I pride myself in. One of the most memorable moments would be the shutouts against LSU and Ole Miss and the Texas Bowl, just holding [the University of Texas] to 59 yards total. Just being that dominant defense and knowing you were a part of that is big-time.

The Dallas Cowboys could use some edge rushers. Have you talked with them? No, I’m closed ears. I’m just down here working. I let my brothers and my dad read up on all the blogs and things like that, what they hear. But I’m just here working, trying to improve myself. … Not going out, not thinking about anything else, just focusing on this whole process and trying to make the best of it.

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Being a ‘tweener’ is OK with NFL prospect Flowers."