Eastern Illinois running back
MJ Flowers was named a Freshman All-American this week as FCS Football Central released its 2023 team
Flowers was the Big South-OVC Football Association Offensive Freshman of the Year and a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award. He was a big part of Eastern Illinois improving from 2-9 a year ago to 8-3 this season. He carried the ball 157 times for 854 yards (5.4 yards per carry), which was second nationally among all freshmen (only three yards behind the leader) and third-most in the conference. He also scored eight rushing touchdowns, which was fourth among Big South-OVC players. Flowers added 35 receptions, which was tied for fourth on the EIU team and just outside the Top 10 overall in the Association. His 1,046 all-purpose yards on the season was also second-most nationally among all freshmen. He had a monster game in a victory at McNeese, rushing for 272 yards and adding sixth catches for 26 yards; that performance earned him National Freshman of the Week honors. He also had 201 rushing yards and four touchdowns in a victory over Tennessee State. Flowers was the only freshman nationally with a pair of 200-yard rushing games in 2023.
Offense:
QB: Jaylen King (Gardner-Webb)
QB: Marqui Adams (Delaware State)
RB: Eli Gillman (Montana)
RB: Jawarn Howell (South Carolina State)
RB: Malachi Hosley (Penn)
RB: Jared White (Montana State)
RB: MJ Flowers (Eastern Illinois)
WR: Brendan Jenkins (Samford)
WR: Beau Sparks (Utah Tech)
WR: Zach Mitchell (Southern Utah)
WR: Anthony Johnson (Stony Brook)
WR: Jaylen Bonelli (Wagner)
TE: Colby Ramshaw (New Hampshire)
TE: Jaxson Davis (Mississippi Valley State)
OL: Conner Moore (Montana State)
OL: Quaveon Davis (Jackson State)
OL: KJ Brooks (Towson)
OL: Sean Dugery (UAlbany)
OL: Samuel Eskridge (Norfolk State)
OL: Alex Ramirez (Idaho State)
AP: Griffin Woodell (UAlbany)
Defense:
DL: Jaylon Joseph (Lafayette)
DL: Eriq George (Tennessee State)
DL: Charles Perkins (UT Martin)
DL: Keyshawn Johnson (Grambling State)
DL: William Robinson (Holy Cross)
DL: Rasheed Lovelace (Nicholls State)
LB: Joshua Iseah (North Carolina A&T)
LB: Carter Glassmyer (Saint Francis)
LB: AJ Richardson (Norfolk State)
LB: Michael Montgomery (Portland State)
LB: Marco Patierno (Elon)
LB: Tye Niekamp (Illinois State)
LB: Xe'ree Alexander (Idaho)
DB: Alex McLaughlin (Northern Arizona)
DB: Aaron Sears (Stephen F. Austin)
DB: Syeed Gibbs (Rhode Island)
DB: Ja'son Prevard (Morgan State)
DB: Damien Henderson (Harvard)
DB: Mason Young (Idaho State)
DB: Kam Canterbury (Long Island)
Special Teams:
K: Owen Zalc (Dartmouth)
K: Jack Berkowitz (Elon)
K: Hunter Green (Northern Colorado)
P: Orion Phillips (Murray State)
P: Adam Watford (North Alabama)
AP: Gavin Lochow (Dayton)
AP: VJ Wilkins (Campbell)
*NOTE: The Bluebloods agreed to a partnership with Sports Illustrated/FanNation and formed FCS Football Central. Updated branding and logo are attached. Our FCS All-American and All-Conference Teams will drop at a later date.
