Trailing by two with less than five minutes left on a stormy, windy night in Greenville, North Carolina, the Bulls were in a dangerous situation. Head Coach Willie Taggart calls the offense to line up in a shotgun formation with three receivers to the right. The play is a pump fake and go route, looking for a touchdown to take the lead.

This is a play Quinton Flowers has made throughout all his life, lots of pressure and only a few that believed he could do it. Flowers took the snap, faked right and heaved the ball towards receiver Rodney Adams streaking down the sideline to seal the win.

For Flowers, this was a familiar feeling; throwing touchdowns and proving those who didn’t believe in him wrong.

***

Flowers started playing at Liberty City Optimist football program in Miami, Florida where former NFL wide receiver Antonio “Dayla” Brown was simply watching his son practice in the shades. After news of the original coaches leaving the program, Brown took over the program with 10 year olds running around with no instruction or game plan.

Brown recalls letting the first practice simply being about the kids having fun when he noticed Flowers’ sticking out among the other kids.

“The first practice we sat back and let the kids have fun and I noticed Quinton (Flowers) and I noticed he played defense, he played line and he played linebacker, but I watched him throw the football,” said Brown. “With me coming, I put him at quarterback because I felt confident in him and I knew he could do it and that’s when that birth of that quarterback came about.”

Confidence with Flowers has been a staple his entire life and while others may not have shown confidence in the Miami native, coaches soon realized that if you showed trust in him, Flowers wouldn’t disappoint.

“When I got to high school, I had to play free safety because the coach didn’t trust me, but ‘coach Dayla' did,” said Flowers. “We were down at the half to North Miami and ‘coach Dayla’ told the head coach to put me in at quarterback before the half and I threw a 60 yard bomb to my receiver Chris Hall. Ever since then, I just took off from there.”

For Flowers that throw, that game and that moment culminated into a passion for football that is relentless.

Flowers recorded over 8,000 yards for the Miami Jackson Generals high school football team and threw for 60 touchdowns during his time behind center. The game that started him at quarterback wasn’t simply a beginning , but an ending as it was the last time his mother saw him play football. Flower’s mother lost her battle with cancer and made sure his coach did everything he could do to protect her son.

“She made sure to tell me on her deathbed that her baby was going to be good,” said Brown. “So I felt for that reason to be his mentor and it meant extra to me. I was amongst that family and it wasn’t always about football with me.”

***

Several college coaches entered Brown’s football office Flowers’ high school career, each with different plans for Flowers. Brown spoke with coaches about the possibility of Flowers at safety, receiver or even running back, but Brown had the same tactic with every coach.

“They would call him down, they would eye ball him and say he wasn’t tall enough, too small or he could be a running back, he could be a safety or a wide receiver,” said Brown. “I would leave the room and let him talk to them personally because quarterback is what he wants to play and I can’t tell him no.”

Flowers would enter the room, make eye contact, shake each coach hands firmly, sit down humbly and answer all their questions. Multiple schools came by and when Flowers realized they didn’t trust him with their quarterback position, he would offer the same response to each.

“Florida kept bringing the defensive coordinator, receivers coach and when I asked them when they were gonna bring the quarterbacks coach, they never brought him,” said Flowers. “Miami came to me, Al Golden said I looked like a running back and I told him well if I look like a running back to them, then find someone else because quarterback is my position.”

Enter South Florida head coach Willie Taggart.

Coming off a 2-10 first season with the Bulls, it was clear Taggart was in search of an offensive playmaker. When Taggart originally sat down with Flowers in the same office, he first noticed his polite and respectful manners that struck Taggart as unique.

“The first time you speak to him, he looks you right in the eye and listens to what you’re saying. Some kids turn away from me and may not pay attention, but Quinton (Flowers) looks you right in the eye that it might make you turn away,” said Taggart. “He’s didn’t ask me for the quarterback position, he only asked me for an opportunity and that’s all he really needed.”

Flowers has taken a face on approach to all of his challenges in life. Whether it be coaches doubting his ability, losing his father to gun violence when he was seven, his mother to cancer during high school or even his brother two years ago prior to his first start at SMU his freshman year in 2014.

Just minutes after being named the starting quarterback, Flowers walked out of the Lee Roy Selmons athletic center to a dark, cold night with missed calls from his brother. Flowers was excited about just being named starter, but was about to face down another loss in his life.

Flowers was quick to his phone eager to tell his family of the news, but noticed a difference in the voice of his brother Nathaniel.

“What’s wrong?, what’s wrong,” Flowers said.

The sound of crying and tears begin to slowly fade out from his phone before he hears one last sentence.

“Brad got shot,” Flowers’ brother Nathaniel said.

Those three words left Quinton crying in the dark after suffering another heartbreak.

Flowers’ older brother Bradley Holt had been shot in the head after attempting to defend children playing in front of an apartment from an erratic driver.

The Miami Herald reported that Holt was announced dead when he arrived at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Losing three close family members left Flowers searching for answers on when things will go right for him. Rather than letting these tragedies hold him down, Flowers uses the position he plays as a reason to keep fighting.

***

After a 1-3 start to the 2015 season, doubts began to arise again on whether or not Flowers was made for the quarterback position. During a dinner at the Taggart’s house prior to the Bulls’ game against Syracuse, Flowers sat humbled and quiet there while the running backs pleaded to head coach Taggart to let the chains off of the Miami native quarterback.

“I was there being quiet and running back Darius Tice, he’s a guy who’s gonna speak his mind,” said Flowers. “He told him, ‘Quinton Flowers is a different player, if you let him do what he does, you will see’.”

Flowers laughed, shrugging off the compliments figuring that coach Taggart would brush off the suggestion. Taggart then looked towards Quinton and challenged him with the opportunity to let him play the way he has for years.

Thirty-four touchdowns later and coming off an 8-4 season where not only Flowers, but the Bulls football teams silenced doubters, Flowers set new school records further proving his ability at the quarterback position.

“I know from the quarterback position there’s nothing out there on the football field that phases him,” Taggart said. “With the things he’s been through, so there’s nothing football wise that should phase him and I think Quinton Flowers has been though a lot of adversity which is what makes him so successful.”

Not many gave Flowers the opportunity to play quarterback, not many believed he could do what he’s done today, not many felt he was capable of overcoming everything he’s dealt with thus far, but the quarterback position is what keeps Flowers fighting.

“I took the quarterback position because it was a passion,” said Flowers. “I didn’t want anyone to change that because that’s the last thing my mom saw me playing and she always told me to keep fighting.”