Here’s why Folsom’s Rico Flores Jr. committed to play football at Notre Dame

When Rico Flores Jr. pondered what colleges to include in his top 10 list months ago, Notre Dame wasn’t in the cards.

Then something changed. Notre Dame promoted Marcus Freeman from defensive coordinator to head coach, creating a ripple effect for the Irish in the recruiting game. Talks with Freeman, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and wide receiver coach Chansi Stuckey opened the eyes of the Folsom High School senior. Flores announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon.

By May, his list was narrowed down to three options. Flores had full-ride scholarship offers from Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, Oregon, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, USC and more. He had a total of 30 Division l offers. In the 247Sports rankings, Flores is ranked 246th in the class of 2023 and 18th in the state of California.

After he canceled official visits to his other top schools, Georgia and Ohio State, it become clear where his head was at.

Not even his mom, Erin, knew his decision in the days leading up to his announcement. Flores took his official visit to Notre Dame with his mom the first week of June and was blown away.

“It was a good experience,” Flores said. “They rolled out the red carpet for me. Meeting the staff in person for the first time was a great experience. They were all authentic. No fakeness from coach (Marcus) Freeman, to coach (Tommy) Rees and coach (Chansi) Stuckey. They were all down to earth. I really appreciate that from them.”

He added, “At first, I wasn’t even going to consider Notre Dame on my top 10 list. And when (the new staff) got there and when coach Stuckey got there, I gave them probably like a week. We talked and they ended up being on my top 10. Coach Freeman reached out to me on the first day, coach Stuckey reached out to me and coach Rees came to my school. It felt really good and comfortable … what the school has to offer, it’s not a four-year plan, it’s a forever plan with them.”

Flores said he wants to study business at Notre Dame. He hopes to one day become a commercial real estate agent and an entrepreneur. His face lights up talking about his career path after football. He has a cumulative 3.8 GPA.

“When I went on my (official) visit, I talked to a billionaire,” Flores said. “No one is talking to billionaires like that. Some people will never do that in their life. And for me to do that in one day is crazy. It’s crazy how much Notre Dame has to offer.”

Flores joins Oak Ridge’s Ian Book and Jesuit’s Isaiah Rutherford as recent football players from the Sacramento area who committed to play at Notre Dame. He said he has been in contact with Book, who is the winningest quarterback in Notre Dame history.

Why his commitment date has significance

July 3 is the commitment date Flores set for himself years ago.

When he got his first full-ride scholarship offer from Arizona State heading into his sophomore year, the plan was to pledge his commitment to honor his late uncle “Bash,” who died in November 2017. Sunday would’ve been his 44th birthday.

On Flores’ left arm, he has a tattoo sleeve dedicated to his late uncle.

“I’m doing this on his birthday because he was always one of my biggest supporters,” Flores said. “He always said I had a bright future ahead. If he was here, he would be so proud of me. As soon as I got my first offer from Arizona State, (I knew this date) would be a part of the plan. He had a lot to do with that. … He was one of my angels watching over me.”

Flores honored his late friend Cruz Reyes during his official visit at Notre Dame. He wore two lanyards throughout his visit, one with his name on it and one with “Cruz” on it. Flores also took pictures in a No. 1 jersey to honor Reyes. It’s the jersey number he will wear this season at Folsom.

A trainer and mentor in Lem Adams

Flores made his commitment video Sunday from a familiar spot: GameFit, a training center for athletes in Sacramento. The owner is Lem Adams, who started training Flores when he was going into second grade. He trains high school athletes, NFL players and UFC fighters.

Adams has been an integral part of his life. Flores talks openly about growing up without a father in his life, which is a role Adams helped fill. Adams helped Flores through the recruiting process and talked to coaches when he wasn’t able to because of NCAA rules.

“Rico and his mom have put him in a good position to spend a lot of time with myself,” Adams said. “It’s been great. I’ve taken Rico under my wing just like I’ve been able to take quite a bit of players under the wing. I wanted to be there for him and show him how to work and not make excuses. Anything a typical father would do with their own kids.”

What stands out to Adams about Flores is his work ethic. The two often are fixtures in his gym at the earliest hours of the morning, before classes start for Flores. It’s that work ethic Adams says that helped make Flores an elite recruit.

“His work ethic is second to none,” Adams said. “When it comes to not missing days and putting in the hours. Rico is a worker. He’s not only a worker on the football field but a worker in the classroom. He has a motor that says he wants to be great.”

Adams added what impresses him about Flores, “Explosiveness and his overall tenacity. He’s a dawg on the field. Rico doesn’t say much during plays. I tell him let his game speak for himself. Rico is a very vocal person after the play is done. He’s a beast that is physical and competitive. If you watch Rico’s film from the first quarter to the fourth quarter it’s the same pace. He doesn’t take plays off. He blocks extremely well for a receiver.”

What his high school coach has to say

Paul Doherty has coached elite recruits during his time as a Sacramento-area football coach.

Doherty has been Flores’ coach since he arrived on campus at Folsom in the middle of his freshman year. Flores played his first high school football season at Capital Christian High School.

He has grown into a player who wants the ball in his hands with the game on the line, Doherty said.

In his team’s two biggest games of the season against De La Salle in the Northern California Regional championship and the state championship game against Cathedral Catholic, Flores had 17 catches for 225 yards. Flores had 81 catches for 1157 yards with 12 total touchdowns in his junior season.

“An incredibly mature kid,” Doherty said. “Focused, driven and a hard worker. Has an incredible work ethic. I have compared (him) to like a 25-year-old man. … I’m happy for Rico. I know wherever he goes he will be a successful person and football player. He will be successful because he learned how to work and battle through adversity.”

The moment that stands out to Doherty was Flores’ first game at Folsom during the COVID-19 shortened spring season. Folsom was playing rival Oak Ridge and Flores hauled in a catch to keep a drive alive while Folsom trailed by four points. A few plays later, Flores caught the game-winning touchdown.

“Maybe the most incredible catch I’ve seen in high school football,” Doherty said. “He’s had a bunch of them.”

“He carries a little bit of a chip on his shoulder in a really good way and all positive sides of the word. There’s a lot of noise out there, if he’s ranked below a certain guy or if he catches a little bit of heat for not scoring a touchdown for a couple weeks in a row. He always has something to prove. Rico is very Tom Brady in that sense. He feels like the underdog, he plays like the underdog and prepares like the underdog. … In the biggest games in the biggest moments, he overachieved.”

The end of the recruiting process

Flores sums up the last few years of being an elite recruit in a couple words: exciting and crazy.

The life of a blue-chip recruit isn’t an easy one, but it’s one that will pay off for Flores and his family. He says playing football has allowed him to stay out of trouble and get his education paid for, a goal he set for himself when he was younger.

“This is a dream come true,” Flores Jr. said. “Coming up as a kid from North Sacramento, it doesn’t happen every day. A lot of people fall victim to the streets, fall victim to drugs or don’t do good in school. … The reason I work hard is you never want to go back to where I came from and how I grew up. I never want to restart, I want to elevate my life and my family’s lives for generations. I want to never see my mom struggle anymore. Generational wealth, that’s the ultimate goal that I’m reaching for.”