UPLAND, Calif. -- A cold and damp evening didn't detract from the turnout for 5-star outside linebacker Justin Flowe's first practice of the spring with Upland High School on Monday night.
Well, maybe in the bleachers -- but not on the sideline.
LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda stood side by side with Texas DC Todd Orlando while Florida linebackers coach Christian Robinson was not far away taking his own vantage point on one of the most coveted prospects in the 2020 class.
"I try to be humble about everything I got because I worked for this my whole life. I just want to get better every day and night," Flowe told TrojanSports.com afterward, adding that he tries not to think about which college coaches are watching his every move.
"Not really. I just do what I do. I just get through my drills. I don't think about it. I just play my game and everything."
Flowe, who stands 6-foot-3, 225 pounds and has the quick-twitch abilities college coaches crave, is ranked the No. 1 outside linebacker and No. 3 overall prospect in the 2020 class. A punishing tackler, he is considered by those recruiters to be as sure a prospect as there is in this cycle, and he has his choice of the top programs from coast to coast.
With that opportunity, of course, comes a very intense recruiting battle. Flowe commented that he gets around 40 calls or texts from recruiters per day.
"My phone gets blown up every day with college coaches trying to get me to go to their school. It's all good," he said. "I just try to keep my head straight in school and everything, getting better, and I'll figure that out later."
He's already taken a first step toward sorting through his many options, dropping a top-12 list earlier this month of Alabama, Arizona State, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and USC.
"Man, it was pretty hard. It was a hard decision for me to make because I had a lot of schools on my mind, but I had to cut it down to what I really, really liked. So it came down to the top 12," he said Monday night.
Flowe visited USC with his Upland HS teammate for a spring practice at the end of March, and the Trojans are expected to be at Upland later this week to watch Flowe in person during this ongoing evaluation period.
So where do things stand between the elite local prospect and USC?
