UA’s Flannigan-Fowles overcomes early funk
Maturity helped senior safety regain starting job
Safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles has been one of the Arizona Wildcats’ most productive players in recent weeks. That’s how it was supposed to be all along.
Flannigan-Fowles’ senior season didn’t start out that way. He struggled against BYU. He got banged up against Houston. He didn’t start against Southern Utah or Oregon State, snapping a streak of 27 straight appearances in the UA lineup.
Sometimes established veterans don’t mesh with new coaching staffs. Flannigan-Fowles appeared to be headed for a last-season letdown.
Instead, the Tucson product pulled himself out of his funk. He reclaimed his starting job and is playing the best ball of his college career as it nears its conclusion. Arizona visits No. 8 Washington State on Saturday in the penultimate game of the regular season.
“You’re talking about a mature guy,” UA coach Kevin Sumlin said. “He lost playing time because of the way he played early. Guys can go either way with that. But mature players and tough players, they’re able to look at themselves.
“We talk about this as a program. The first question shouldn’t be, ‘Why is soand-so playing?’ The question you need to ask is, ‘Coach, why am I not playing?’ When you have those frank discussions — ‘Here’s what you need to do’ — it benefits us all.
“Mature players take that to heart, look within and then fix things. That’s what he has done. He’s a great young man. He’s a leader. I think he’s approached this thing as a mature adult. Obviously, his play has reflected that lately.”
Flannigan-Fowles posted a careerhigh three pass breakups in Arizona’s 44-15 victory over Oregon. He followed that up with a career-best two tackles for losses, including his first career sack, in the Wildcats’ 42-34 win over Colorado.
Every one of those plays had a significant impact. All three of FlanniganFowles’ pass breakups against the Ducks came on third down. The first of his two TFLs against the Buffaloes happened on fourth-and-2 from the UA 6-yard line. The sack came on second-and-goal four series later. Colorado ended up settling for a field goal.
Flannigan-Fowles has looked like a much more confident player than the one who got caught peeking into the backfield against BYU, resulting in an easy touchdown pass from Tanner Mangum to Matt Bushman.
The difference? Flannigan-Fowles is playing a more relaxed brand of football now. He was pressing early in the year, trying too hard to make his senior season a special one.
“That’s probably the biggest thing,” Flannigan-Fowles said. “I wanted to go out with a bang.”
The benching also played a role. Flannigan-Fowles still played against Southern Utah and Oregon State; he hasn’t missed a game in four seasons. He ended up making a critical fourthand-goal stop against the Thunderbirds.
But getting booted from the starting lineup, even if only temporarily, was a blow to one of Arizona’s top lockerroom leaders. Flannigan-Fowles is one of only 12 seniors on the roster.
“It motivated me,” Flannigan-Fowles said. “I had to pick my play up.”
Flannigan-Fowles didn’t blame anything or anyone for his early-season issues — other than himself.
“I’m not going to put my play on somebody else’s shoulders,” Flannigan-Fowles said. “I’m going to look at myself first. I’m going to check myself before I look around and (ask) why am I not playing or why I’m not playing the way I should be playing.”