Late bloomer: Flower to walk on at WVU after just 1 year of football

On Wednesday in the Fairmont Senior library, Flower confirmed what he’d tweeted on Saturday: He will attend West Virginia University and join the Mountaineers as a preferred walk-on (PWO).

“For me, it meant everything. To follow in the footsteps of my family and friends who have gone to WVU, it means a lot.” Flower said. “(I get) to represent my school and my community as well…I’m really excited to be a part of the team.”

Flower was a two-time state champion and an all-state selection in soccer for the Polar Bears as a defender, so his booming leg was a known commodity at East-West Stadium, just not on Fridays until this past fall.

“It was definitely a big learning curve and a culture shock going between soccer and football. I feel like I adapted well,” Flower said. “A lot of it is the same…the same body motions, the same movements. It helped a lot to be experienced in that.”

He converted all 29 of his extra point attempts for the Class AA quarterfinalists and was 5 for 12 on field goal tries with a long of 34 yards.

Flower punted 27 times for an average of 36.1 stripes with a long of 52, with four boots coming to rest inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

He was extremely effective on kickoffs, too, often forcing opponents to settle for touchbacks.

In fact, in December, he attended the Kohl’s Kicking Camps National Senior/College Transfer Challenge in Dallas, Texas, and charted highest in kickoffs in the Class of 2023 and also posted the longest one, an 84-yarder.

“It was big to go against the guys who are at the top and other transfer kids who are at the top. It was pretty cool,” Flower said.

It didn’t take long for the word to get out, and it probably didn’t hurt that the Fairmont Senior pipeline had pumped Jake Abbott, Zach Frazier, Rhett Heston and Dante and Darius Stills north to Morgantown in recent years.

“I think my first contact was around late September or early October, and then just periodically throughout the season, heavy-hitting the last couple of weeks, and then got the PWO (offer),” Flower said.

It also wasn’t a bad thing that Casey Legg completed the same soccer star to special-team ace move with aplomb for Neal Brown’s team.

“I don’t want to compare myself or anything, but it would definitely be cool footsteps to follow,” Flower said of Legg. “They want me to develop as a kicker and a punter, especially punting behind Oliver Straw and just learning the more Australian style of punting.”

Flower, who lists a GPA of 4.2 on his Twitter bio, will major in environmental science.