Alabama Football Spring Practice 11

Alabama running back DeSherrius Flowers (28) works through drills during Alabama's seventh spring football practice, Friday, April 10, 2015, at the Thomas-Drew Practice Fields in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com

(VASHA HUNT)

Instead of competing for carries behind Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake, DeSherrius Flowers will spend the fall carrying the ball for Jones County Junior College in Mississippi.

A four-star freshman running back, Flowers was ruled ineligible by the NCAA in June due to a "recently discovered initial eligibility issue" after Flowers enrolled in January and took part in the Tide's spring practice.

Flowers will complete his academic requirements at Jones before likely returning to Alabama down the road, his high school coach, Ashley Johnson, told AL.com.

"I don't think this has changed his relationship with Alabama as far as I know," Johnson said. "He loves Alabama. That's where he wanted to be. And as far as they were concerned, he was good to go obviously or they wouldn't have brought him on board in January and got him in school. As far as they were concerned, his eligibility looked great -- from the coaching staff and the college itself."

Johnson said he isn't sure whether Flowers will be at Jones for one year or two.

"That's going to be up to the NCAA," Johnson said. "I don't know. Does he have to go for two years now, which is what happens a lot of times when someone doesn't reach those eligibility requirements? Usually that's a two-year thing. I don't know. The NCAA is a mysterious entity."

Johnson's understanding is that Flowers was ruled ineligible because of a large jump in Flowers' ACT score from the previous time he took the test.

Flowers' final score was a 19 out of 36, Johnson said.

Johnson wasn't sure of Flowers' previous score.

"Not that there's any evidence of any wrongdoing, but it's just irregular, so the NCAA can then declare you ineligible as far as college athletics go," Johnson said. "Again, Alabama didn't see it. They wouldn't have put this much time into him if they thought there was anything there at all. They wouldn't have brought him in in January and let him go through spring training. They thought he had had a great spring and had him in summer classes. None of that would have happened if the university or the coaching staff thought for a second, hey, there's something wrong here and they're going to declare him ineligible.

"And I think because he came in that time of year, the NCAA -- they don't check these things when you take the tests as a junior or whatever -- they check them when you come into college, and most college football freshmen are coming in in the summer. So apparently they didn't check any of that stuff when he came in in January."

Flowers was in the mix to be Alabama's No. 3 running back behind Henry and Drake following a serious knee injury fellow freshman Bo Scarbrough suffered during the spring.

Redshirt freshman Ronnie Clark and Flowers were the top two running backs behind Henry and Drake during the spring after Scarbrough was injured.

Five-star running back Damien Harris enrolled earlier this summer.

Barring the addition of a transfer, Clark, Flowers and Harris would have been the primary three players competing for playing time behind Henry and Drake.

"I think it was pretty surprising to [Flowers] because the adults around him -- the coaches at Alabama and the administration there -- had said he was fine," Johnson said, "and I think it was a shock to them as well. ... I think he was real happy at Alabama and was doing real well in his classes there and was doing well football-wise.

"With their depth at running back, he was going to get a shot to get in there and get a little playing time this year, so it's a little discouraging. But he's a young guy that's got a pretty level head on his shoulders, and it's still not the end of the world by any means ... and he'll be right back on everybody's crosshairs here in just a couple years. I think he sees the big picture."