Flores establishing himself as standout

Just one simple word is listed as South Terrebonne senior Jaquis Flores’ position on the team’s roster, wingback. No one word can explain the impact this wingback is having on the Gators’ offense this season.

With South Terrebonne rolling to a 3-0 start to the season, Flores has firmly established himself as one of the Tri-parish area’s most explosive players.

He’s done so by playing multiple positions and filling countless hats for the Gators in the process to excelling in all aspects of the team’s offense.

“I take pride in that,” Flores said. “I want to be able to do a lot of things to help my team win.”

Flores’ most frequent responsibility is and will always be to run the football.

South Terrebonne executes a Wing-T offense, which is almost always a run-first scheme.

From that, the vast majority of the standout’s touches come through handoffs and pitches out of the backfield.

“I’d say I’m a running back,” Flores quickly blurts when asked what he believes his position is. “Running, that’s my biggest strength. That’s what I do best.”

The stats tend to back up the senior’s statement.

Flores rushed the football 23 times in the Gators’ first two games of the season for a whopping 341 yards and two touchdowns.

That explosiveness has caught the attention of Curlin, who said he and his coaching staff have even gone so far as shifting away from the Wing-T in some situations in order to get the football into his playmaker’s hands.

“We’ve run a little bit of I-formation lately, just to get him more touches,” Curlin said.

But with the backfield running now coming a bit easier, Flores said he worked hard this offseason to try and make himself more versatile for the Gators.

Mission accomplished, his role has expanded two-fold in his final season at South Terrebonne.

Flores’ first new responsibility has come in South Terrebonne’s newly expanded passing game.

Standing well below 6-foot and weighing just 150 pounds, one wouldn’t think Flores would be a capable receiver.

But Flores said he actually uses his small stature as motivation against opponents who may take him lightly on the field.

“I don’t let size or anything like that bother me. I never have,” Flores quickly says when talking about his height and weight. “Those things don’t mean anything on the football field on Friday.”

So far, he’s proven that myth to be true and has firmly established himself as one of the team’s leading receivers, catching four passes for 142 yards and a touchdown in the season’s first two games.

Most of that success came in the team’s second game against Terrebonne when he caught three passes for 125 yards to add to the 148 yards he also accumulated in the running game.

South Terrebonne quarterback Trevon Smith agreed with Flores and said his classmate’s transformation into a multi-talented player shows his teammate is anything but small when he’s lined up on the gridiron.

Smith added that Flores’ skill-set also makes his job as quarterback easier because he doesn’t ever feel the pressure to win a game on his own.

“He’s fearless,” Smith said. “He does what he has to do. He makes my job a lot easier being able to do as many things as he does to help us score points.”

If rushing and receiving isn’t enough, there’s always Flores’ second newly expanded role, special teams.

Flores is the Gators’ primary kick returner.

In that job, he’s able to run with the football in open space. That’s a dangerous thought for opposing coaching.

Flores has yet to return a kickoff for a score this year, but he has come close, taking a return for more than 40 yards against Terrebonne.

It seems as though it’s only a matter of time before that changes.

After all, he is one of the fastest guys in Terrebonne Parish, boasting an 11-second 100-meter dash time in his second sport, track.

“When he gets by that last line of defense, most of the time it’s the linebackers, we just know he’ll make a move to shake the safety,” Smith said. “From there, there’s nobody that’s going to catch him. He’s that quick and explosive.”

With South Terrebonne off to an undefeated start largely in part to an undersized wingback, an obvious comparison has inevitably begun to occur in Gatorland.

You probably guessed it, Flores is being compared to Phillip Livas, who led the Gators to an unbeaten season in 2006, before moving onto Louisiana Tech and now ultimately the professional ranks where he currently plays with the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL.

Flores said he grew up idolizing Livas and still does to this day.

“I grew up watching him play,” Flores said.

The senior said he’s spoken with the Gators legend a few times and has sought his advice for how to build on high school successes, adding that he absorbs any of the legend’s words like they’d be “gold”.

“He just told me to do my best, basically,” Flores said. “To make the most of the opportunities I’m given and the situations I’m in.”

Curlin said he can see the comparisons, but added that South Terrebonne doesn’t rely upon Flores nearly as much as they did Livas because of the plethora of talent the Gators currently have on their roster.

“We didn’t have that same luxury when Phillip was here,” Curlin said. “I don’t think we’ll ever have to lean on Jaquis the same way we did Livas, and that’s a good thing.”

Either way, Smith said he believes the Gators have a clear advantage having Flores on the field.

Maybe wingback doesn’t accurately showcase Flores’ talents. But Smith believes he does have one word that can do the trick.

This one word is the highest praise that can be given to any South Terrebonne player.

“Livas,” Smith says without hesitation. “For this 2011 team, he’s our Livas. Without question, that’s the role he plays for us.”

Flores establishing himself as standout