Greg Hansen's Notebook: This entry is part of longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen's weekly notebook.
Subscribers can read this week's "Hansen's Notebook" in its entirety in the Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, edition of the Arizona Daily Star (Page C2) — either in print or at Tucson.com/EEdition. Or, dig into the Hansen archives at Tucson.com/Hansen.
is the longtime sports columnist for the
Arizona Daily Starand
Tucson.com.
Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, a part-time starter at Arizona who sat out his senior season of high school football at Mountain View, started at linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers in their season opener last week. He also intercepted a pass. His career continues to beat the odds.
Undrafted out of the UA in 2019, Flannigan-Fowles is playing on his sixth one-year contract, earning $1.95 this season. He will be a free agent again at season’s end.
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (45) intercepts the ball during an NFL football game against the New York Jets on Monday.
Flannigan-Fowles became the seventh Tucson high school player to intercept an NFL pass. Tucson High cornerback Levi Wallace, who played at Alabama, has 12 interceptions for Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Palo Verde linebacker Mark Arneson of Arizona, intercepted five for the St. Louis Cardinals, CDO’s Blake Martinez of Stanford intercepted four for Green Bay/New York Giants, Sean Harris of Tucson High and UA intercepted two for the Chicago Bears, Riki Ellison of Amphitheater and USC intercepted one for the 49ers and Mike Scurlock of Cholla and UA intercepted one for Carolina.
Flannigan-Fowles comes from good football stock. His grandfather, Curtis Flannigan, was a starting linebacker/fullback for Ollie Mayfield’s Tucson High powerhouses of the late 1960s, an all-city player who had an offer to play for Florida State. He did not play at a four-year school. His uncle, Curtis Flannigan Jr., was Tucson High’s starting quarterback in the late 1980s, who played for Todd Mayfield, a Pima County Sports Hall of Fame coach.
