Flowers: JC Smith ‘the backup plan’ for recruits no more

TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith loses five starters from the 2023 team that went 7-4, but return 17, including top receiver Brevin Caldwell, an Ardrey Kell graduate who caught 55 passes.

Maurice Flowers wants to build Johnson C. Smith into a destination for football recruits.

After going 7-4 in his second season as coach, Flowers is looking to leverage that success into roster upgrades. Two days after losing 23-10 to Fort Valley State in the Florida Beach Bowl, Flowers hosted recruits on the Charlotte campus.

“Our goal is to just keep building off the momentum that we have right now,” he said. “Johnson C. Smith has been for a lot of folks the fallback. It was the backup plan – ‘if I don’t get this, I’ll do that.’ We want to move to the front of recruits’ and families’ minds when it comes to getting a great education and playing some high-level football.”

Flowers is already pitching the program’s momentum – a winning record, investment in scholarships, facilities and coaches as well as JCSU as a school and Charlotte, the 15th-largest city in the country in terms of population – to potential recruits. Players who previously wouldn’t consider the Golden Bulls are now willing to listen.

“It is definitely helping with that,” said Flowers, who hosted on-campus visits Saturday. “We can see from the type of players that are reaching out to us. We were getting a lot of communication from some guys that normally might not consider Johnson C. Smith as a possible landing spot.”

The Golden Bulls don’t have many holes to plug – eight players have exhausted their eligibility – but there are significant vacancies. On offense, JCSU loses receiver Reggie Bryant (44 receptions, 470 yards, five touchdowns), along with starting guards Tyler McBeth and Shawn Evans.

Atop the to-do list, though, is locating an experienced quarterback who can open the passing attack. For the second straight year, the Golden Bulls ended the season with a freshman third stringer behind center, which curtailed options. The answer, Flowers believes, is finding a transfer who can compete for the starting job after Smith completed 140-of-247 passes for 1,430 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“The quarterback position just has to play better,” he said. “You’ve got to get the ball to open receivers and our offensive line played better when they’re able to pass some [where] a defense can’t say ‘hey, you’re getting ready to run.’ That’s what we have to find.”

The Golden Bulls return their top three running backs in Tim Newman Jr. (134 carries, 413 yards, three touchdowns), his brother Jacob (106 carries, 408 yards, 2 TDs) and Shydem McCullough (45 carries, 213 yards, 3 TDs).

“Now that everyone’s got a year older, we’re going to bring in another tailback or two from the high school ranks, and we’re going to bring in someone from the portal also,” Flowers said. “Just competition for the position and there’s nothing wrong with having a good stockpile of talent simply because injuries happen.”

The Golden Bulls’ top receiver, Brevin Caldwell (51 catches, 579 yards, TD) returns, as does Tyrek Williams, who grabbed 16 passes for 224 yards and three scores.

On defense, Smith must replace starting cornerbacks Jacobe Clement and Dirk Cureton, who also returned a couple of punts for touchdowns in 2023. Otherwise, nine starters return to one of the nation’s top defenses, including linebackers Benari Black (82 tackles, 13 for loss, 2.0 sacks) and Jack Smith (68 tackles, 10 TFL, 4.0 sacks), a pair of transfers from Flowers’ first recruit class.  

“From the start, what we did know even though it looked kind of off at the beginning was you’re going to win with defense and that’s what we did in our recruiting plan,” Flowers said. “We wanted to make sure that defense was taken care of, and to have one of the top defenses in Division II we’ve done that.”

Three weeks before students return to class, Flowers said he expects to have the first batch of recruits in place for spring drills. With momentum behind the program, he’s convinced JCSU can leverage that surge, starting with transfers who can make an immediate impact.

“Classes start Jan. 8, and our goal is to have 10 to 12 mid-year signees on campus with the Golden Bulls and we’re going toward that number right now,” he said. “It’s a good time to be a Golden Bull and we’re going to bring some quality student athletes in and keep building.”

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