Justin Flowe Is Healthy, Ready For Massive Season

When an athlete suffers an injury as devastating as the one Justin Flowe sustained last fall, the mental aspect of the recovery process can be just as difficult as the physical portion. 

It would have been easy for Flowe — the top linebacker signee in Oregon’s history and a consensus five-star recruit — to ask, ‘Why me?’ after a torn meniscus derailed his once promising freshman season after just one full game. 

But during a lengthy recovery process that can sow doubt into even the most strong-willed athletes, Flowe adopted a different mentality. 

“I feel like having the game taken away from me for a little bit, it really humbled me as a person,” Flowe said at Oregon’s media day Tuesday. “It just makes you realize that not everything is guaranteed. You have to work for everything. So I just took it like that and just got better everyday. Just being the best I can be.”

Flowe is back to 100% and ready to make up for lost time as he figures to take on a massive role in Tim DeRuyter’s defense this season. With the departure of Isaac Slade-Matautia, who transferred to SMU this summer, there is an absence at weak-side linebacker that Flowe figures to fill immediately. 

The 6-foot-2, 246-pound Chino Calif. native could slot in alongside Noah Sewell, Mase Funa, Kayvon Thibodeaux and the rest of Oregon’s crop of recent star signees to form one of the most talented front-seven’s in the nation. 

If anybody has doubts that Flowe may not yet be physically ready to take on such a workload, he does not share them. 

“With what happened to me, it’s all about your mindset,” Flowe said. “If you think about your injury, then you’re going to feel it. If you don’t think about it, then you’re not going to worry about it. So I’ve just been not thinking about it and just been working on it. Now I feel like I’m As strong as ever.”

Of course there were difficult moments; Flowe had never had a surgery in his life prior to last winter, and he had never dealt with any sort of serious injury. 

During those moments, he focused on doing everything in his power to recover quickly so he could help those teammates. He credits the culture created by Oregon’s players and coaches for helping fuel him when times were tough.

“I just know my goal in life,” Flowe said. “I know what I want to do in my life and everything. We have big goals as a team this year and I want to help fulfill those. I just kept that in the back of my mind.”

Flowe played all but the first series during Oregon’s spring game and finished with 4.5 tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack in his first glimpse of game action since he suffered the injury last November. 

At that point, he was probably just short of being completely healthy. Now, all indicators are that he’s fully up-and-running. 

“Real excited for Justin,” Mario Cristobal said at Pac-12 media day last week. “I think those that saw him perform in the spring game saw how explosive he is and the fact that he is a very physical player, very talented player. He goes from zero to 60 in a snap; he’s a very smart player. He’s a guy that’s worked really hard not only in the classroom but on the field with his rehab last year as well.

“Expecting big things from him and the linebacking corps.”

The departure of Slade-Matautia could have left a glaring whole in the depth chart that Cristobal and his staff have so meticulously assembled over the past few years. 

He started every game each of the last two seasons, and led the Ducks in tackles in 2020. Not many schools can afford to lose a player like that. 

But Cristobal saw Slade-Matautia’s departure as a mutually beneficial transaction. 

“I think whenever you lose or gain people, I think it’s good both for a person and for the program,” Cristobal said Tuesday. “I see it working out great on both ends in that nature. I think we have a great linebacking group, really strong defensive coaches as well and some great leaders overall. So I think all in all it’s a big plus.”

If and when Flowe does make a full return to game action, it will mean the realization of a lifelong dream. He and his brother, outside linebacker and former four-star recruit Jonathan Flowe — have spent their whole lives waiting to play college football together. 

As the season approaches, that dream is about to become a reality.  

“It’s really a blessing,” Justin Flowe said of playing with Jonathan at Oregon. “It’s something that you would never expect to happen and it’s happening now. Me and my brother are taking full advantage of it and we’re just trying to do what we can do to help this team.”