Flowers jumps into fold with Sun Devils

Converse (Texas) Judson safety Tre Flowers didn't want to be left without a chair when the music stopped, and the Arizona State fight song was playing in his head, loudly.

Time to make a commitment.

"I really always wanted to go to Arizona State, like even my freshman and sophomore year, and I saw that they committed a safety already and didn't want to get left out of the party," the 6-foot-3, 180 pound safety said. "A lot of schools have called me and said they were filling up or not recruiting me anymore just because they'd picked up another safety. So I just jumped to the school I liked the most and that's really it."

Flowers, whose uncle is former ASU defensive end Erik Flowers, was aware of the team's depth issues at free safety, with some uncertainty behind senior Keelan Johnson, and decided to take advantage of it.

"(Erik) told me about it but it wasn't like he was trying to persuade me or anything," Flowers said. "My uncle was going to support me regardless of where I went but it was just my decision and I really liked it.They're very thin there and coach (Chris) Ball said that he wasn't looking for me to redshirt, that he wants me to come in and try to make an impact on the team so I'm going to do my best and work hard.

"Coach Ball and coach (Ron) West call me almost every week so I really feel like they wanted me and needed me to be part of Arizona State. Coach Ball told me about his resume and the NFL players that he coached, like my godfather knows coach Ball a lot and was bragging on what good of a coach he is."

Flowers at one point had offers from ASU, Boise State, BYU, Kansas State, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, Houston, Iowa State, Texas-San Antonio, Tulsa and Utah.

"I'm the coverage safety, I'm in the back," Flowers said. "They are getting a hard working football player to help the team out and do whatever it takes to help out."

Judson has had some major changes but Flowers said he and his teammates are starting to get into the swing of things.

"We have new coaches so we're trying to fit everything in and learn and things are starting to fall in place now that it's mid-season," he said.

Flowers is the 17th commit for the Sun Devils in the 2013 class, and the sixth from Texas, which is an internet-era record breaking the previous high of four in 2002.