Jurkovec, Flowers Examples of the 'Good Stories' in Today's FBS
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers had his choice of six-figure offers from NIL companies, each that would have required him to enter the portal and transfer to a specific school. But Flowers—one of 14 children in a single-parent household—prioritized his loyalty to BC over what he called "life-changing" money in Pete Thamel's May ESPN story.
Eagles starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec could have sat out the rest of 2021 when he suffered a season-threatening fracture to his throwing hand Week 2 at UMass. After all, Jurkovec is BC's best pro prospect under center since Matt Ryan, and any less-than-healthy tape could have jeopardized his draft stock—particularly if he declared for this year's draft, which was the expectation ahead of last season.
But Jurkovec returned to the field as soon as he was cleared to do so, regardless of the fact that he had just 50% grip strength. And, although he experienced a roller coaster of a final four regular season games—even battling the flu in the finale versus Wake Forest—Jurkovec helped BC win two ACC games and clinch bowl eligibility for the sixth year in a row.
"Once the doctor came back and said that the bone was fully healed, and I was fine to play, then I needed to get back out there, Jurkovec told ACC Network Wednesday. "I wasn’t fully healthy, but I was healthy enough to play."
Flowers and Jurkovec are the faces of BC football, and third-year head coach Jeff Hafley believes they are players who genuinely represent the beauty of college football.
"Everybody wants to talk about all these things that are wrong—NIL, transfer portal, conference realignment—we need good stories," Hafley said during this week's ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina. "Stories like Phil. Stories like Zay."
Flowers walked to the podium Wednesday with a beaming smile, ranging ear to ear. It was just as bright as his gold chain necklace, which is adorned with two pendants: his jersey number, No. 4, and the letter "X" for his full name, Xavien.
"I think I get it from my family, my brothers and sisters," Flowers said, when asked about his infectious smile. "We all just enjoy and kept a smile on my face about everything we did."
The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native is one of the youngest in his family. Now, however, he's one of the oldest in BC's wide receiver room. With that veteran tag comes added responsibility. Flowers is well aware.
He and redshirt senior wideout Jaelen Gill have adopted a greater leadership role this offseason following the arrival of new wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt. Flowers wants touches, and Hafley's planning on getting him those in bunches, even on special teams. Part of the reason why, however, is that Flowers knows that the more he gets the ball, the more the field opens up for his teammates.
That was the case in 2020 when the speedy wideout ranked 18th nationally with 892 receiving yards and first in the ACC with nine receiving touchdowns.
“We need to get this guy the ball more," Hafley said. "I told him, he’s not going to be able to go out after games this year, he’s going to be so tired. He’s going to return punts. He’s going to touch the ball over and over again."
Flowers, who was named to the Biletnikoff Award watch list earlier this week, is 70 catches, 822 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns away from leaving BC as the school's all-time leading receiver.
He'll likely need Jurkovec for a full season to hit those marks.
And, if Jurkovec is to blossom into the first-round quarterback some think he can be, he'll need Flowers at 100% all year. They need each other, and they know that—but it's not a transactional relationship. Flowers and Jurkovec are close, on and off the field. Both recognize each other's game.
"We both have the ability to make big plays happen at any time," Flowers said. "Phil can run the ball. He can throw the ball. I feel like the more I touch the ball, the more things happen."
Flowers noted that "we didn't finish what we started." They're in it together, and Flowers thinks they can be the best QB-WR tandem in the ACC.
If that happens, it would be the perfect ending for Jurkovec's herky-jerky college football career that's been filled to the brim with adversity.
Jurkovec, a 6-foot-5 dual-threat gunslinger, was the 87th-best recruit in the Class of 2018, according to Rivals.com. The four star chose Notre Dame after an illustrious four years at Pine-Richland High School in Pittsburgh, where he threw 39 touchdowns and just six interceptions as a senior, all while rushing for more than 1,200 yards and 24 scores.
Jurkovec's stardom took a sabbatical in South Bend. He struggled to develop in then-Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly's system and attempted just 18 passes in two years behind Ian Book, at one point even considering a position change. Less than two weeks after Book announced his return for a fifth season at Notre Dame, Jurkovec transferred to BC, which was starting over with Hafley at the helm.
Eventually, Jurkovec received an immediate-eligibility waiver, started his first game since high school and broke onto the scene as an NFL prospect. He threw for 300 or more yards in four of his first five games in an Eagles uniform.
In his 10 games in 2020, Jurkovec amassed 2,558 passing yards, in addition to posting a 17:5 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a 61% completion percentage, a clip that was fifth among BC quarterbacks since 2000. Plus, he was Houdini when the play broke down, leading the country in passing yards under pressure, according to Pro Football Focus. It's a "feel to the game" that comes from playing "razzle-dazzle" in the backyard as a kid, Jurkovec said.
Jurkovec came into the 2021 season with buzz, especially because he has the physical tools that make NFL scouts salivate. The problem was, he could showcase that full skill set only once—well, when healthy. That was in the season opener against Colgate.
Hafley intensely retold the story of Jurkovec's rehab and return during ACC Kickoff.
"We’re getting ready to play a night game on a short week against Virginia Tech and he comes in my office and tells me he wants to play," Hafley said. "That says a lot about Phil. Because there are a lot of guys that, one, wouldn’t want that tape to get out—he’s this hyped up guy, and he can barely grip a ball and throw it down the field. Two, he hasn’t practiced. But he comes back and he puts the team before himself."
A fired up Hafley continued: "With 50% grip strength barely practicing, we beat Virginia Tech in a night game in our Red Bandana Game. The next week, we play Georgia Tech. I think he had 500 yards by himself. I think he had five touchdowns. Then he gets beat up a little bit in our Florida State game. Not a little bit. We didn’t protect him very well. And then he has the flu going into the Wake Forest game. Doesn’t practice, but he still plays.
"If I’m an NFL GM or an NFL coach, and I’ve been in those meetings, that tells you everything you need to know about Phil."
"Passionate" is the word a now-100% Jurkovec used to describe Hafley Wednesday.
There is a mutual trust between Jurkovec and Hafley, Flowers and Hafley and the trio altogether.
Each has had opportunities to walk away from BC to pave new individual paths. Except, all of them have remained together for a collective goal.
Flowers conveyed that sentiment in his press conference portion of this week's league-wide media event.
"I just felt like I owed it to the program to come back and try to give the program something that we didn't have in a long time," he said.
That loyalty is rare in an era of college football where schools are blindsiding conference leaders, coaches are blindsiding schools and players are blindsiding coaches.
Then again, that loyalty is what college football—as we know it, at least—was built upon.
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