BYU, Utah football: Cougars, Utes after same Texas safety prospect

CONVERSE, Tex. — Both BYU and Utah are looking deep into the heart of Texas for safety help — specifically at Tre Flowers from Converse Judson High, which is located just outside of San Antonio. Both schools have offered scholarships to the 6-foot-3, 180-pound safety, but they’re bound to have a lot of competition.

Flowers received his first interest locally from the University of Texas at San Antonio before the start his sophomore season. It took a while for other schools to show interest, but once Kansas State offered him back in February of this year, he’s received an avalanche of offers.

Flowers currently holds offers from such schools as Oklahoma State, Purdue, Iowa State, Mississippi State, Colorado State, Hawaii, Memphis, Wake Forest and Memphis, along with both BYU and Utah.

BYU offered Flowers back in March following an unofficial trip to Provo where he was able to see the program up close. He was interested in BYU early on due to some glowing remarks about the place from teammate and good friend Trent Mathews, who signed with Baylor out of high school.

“Trent was always talking about BYU and how he liked his visit out there,” said Flowers. “He liked the atmosphere and really considered signing with them and I just wanted to see the place for myself.”

Flowers visited BYU during spring practices and came away with a good impression of the football program. Since offering him, BYU has shown as much interest in Flowers as any other school —with coaches visiting his school on several occasions.

“I like a lot of things about BYU,” said Flowers. “I like the coaches and I’ve built a good relationship with them and I like the standards they have there. I’m a good Christian kid with strong beliefs and BYU has a lot of the same beliefs that I do, so I’d love to play for a school like that.”

Shortly after his unofficial visit to BYU, Utah came forward with its own offer. Assistant Coach Morgan Scalley has since visited with Flowers expressing interest in having him play a key role in the Utes' aggressive defensive system.

While Flowers is well-versed on BYU, he isn’t all that familiar with Utah.

“It was crazy with them offering me right after BYU did, but it’s a school I’ll consider — I just don’t know much at all about them right now,” said Flowers. “I’m trying to make plans to go back to Utah and visit BYU, but it will most-likely be BYU that I visit because that’s the school in Utah my parents want me to focus on.”

Indeed, both parents plan on accompanying Flowers when he visits BYU again. Whether that visit occurs this summer or during an official trip in January remains to be seen at this point.

With so many schools coming forward with offers, Flowers doesn’t have the time or the resources to take unofficial visits to each of them this summer. One school that has caught his interest, however, is Arizona State.

“I’m definitely going out to Arizona this summer to see what they have to offer,” said Flowers. “I really like what I’ve heard from coaches about the program and that’s a school I’m definitely interested in seeing for myself.”

Most programs see Flowers as a safety prospect, but that might change after this season when he will be playing on both sides of the ball. Playing both offense and defense is almost unheard of at Converse Judson, but after some selling to Coach Joel Call, who coaches the receivers, they’re going to allow it.