Flowers, Onwuka Earn ACC Player of the Week Honors
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers and defensive tackle Chibueze Onwuka earned ACC Player of the Week honors Monday for their performances against Louisville this past weekend.
Flowers, the league's wideout of the week, starred with five catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns. He scored on receptions of 57 yards and 69 yards. The first saw him split double coverage and leap for the grab, which quarterback Phil Jurkovec believes was Flowers' best since they started working together in 2020.
Flowers also turned what was supposed to be a double pass into a 22-yard run. The senior wisely tucked the ball after seeing that his receivers were in man coverage and then reversed field before making a bee-line for the pylon and nearly scoring.
Flowers—who was also named Senior Bowl Offensive Player of the Week and East-West Shrine Bowl Breakout Offensive Player—now ranks second all-time in BC history with 2,460 receiving yards. With his big day against Louisville, he passed his former position coach Rich Gunnell on the program leaderboard.
Flowers leads the ACC this season with 481 receiving yards—at least 115 more receiving yards than every other player in the conference. Flowers' 6.8 receptions per game are also the most in the ACC, and his five touchdown catches are tied for first in the league.
Flowers stole the headlines this past weekend, however, Onwuka's PAT block in the second quarter ended up being the difference in the Eagles' 34-33 win.
Onwuka, the league's defensive lineman of the week, also mounted a career-high nine total tackles, including six solos. He finished with a pair of TFLs, logging a Pro Football Focus run defense grade of 76.5, which was second on the team.
Onwuka missed last season with an Achilles tear, but he's been more disruptive this fall than he even was in 2020. The longtime D-Lineman has already tallied nine pressures this year, according to PFF, and his 3.5 TFLs are tied for second most on the team.
BC needed both Flowers and Onwuka to pick up its first ACC win, and the vets were recognized for their impact by the conference Monday.
