Athlete of the Month: Jared Flint

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - It wasn’t quite the same from-the-womb beginnings as

most successful quarterbacks usually have, but for Orange Coast College

sophomore QB Jared Flint, the success is still there.

A baseball player growing up, Flint didn’t start playing football

until high school where a friend of his “coaxed” him into playing.

“I was tricked by my friend, actually,” Flint said. “He asked me try

out for the football team with him and I said I would. When the tryouts

started, I realized he didn’t show up. But, I guess everything worked out

in the end, though.”

Looking at the stats for the 1999 Pirates, needless to say, it REALLY

worked out.

In his two year career as a Buc, Flint set new career marks for

attempts (572), completions (311) and passing yards (3,999), breaking

Alvin White’s marks set in 1971-72.

This season, Flint completed 190 of 330 attempts, both OCC records and

threw for 2,454 yards, second all-time behind Keith Jarrett’s 1987 mark.

“He’s by far the best quarterback we’ve had since I’ve coaching at

Coast,” Coach Mike Taylor said of Flint. “We just had our all-conference

meetings the other day and there was a lot of praise thrown Jared’s way.

He was actually one vote shy of being named the Mission Conference

Northern Division’s Offensive Player of the Year.”

Flint was a major component for the Pirates’ offense and helped OCC

gain some much-needed respect from division foes.

“We may have only won one more game from last year,” Flint said. “But

it’s been such a better season for all of us.”

The Pirates finished 4-6 overall, 2-3 in the Northern Division.

The biggest factor that helped Flint succeed this season after a tough

freshman season? Flint himself.

“I realized after my first year that at the JC level, a lot of the

responsibility is put on yourself,” Flint said. “The workouts, throwing

on the side, the conditioning; all of the extra stuff that I didn’t do

the year before, I focused on for this season.”

All the hard work started to pay off even before the first game was

played.

“I just felt so confident,” Flint said. “I was throwing the ball so

much stronger and more accurate in the spring and summer. I just tried to

carry that feeling into the season.”

After his prep career at Irvine High, Flint chose the University of

Indiana to continue his athletic career, but things did not pan out too

well in Hoosierland.

“The system we were using at IU was not too favorable, and looking

back, I had a lot of better offers from smaller schools,” Flint said. “I

just wanted to go to the biggest school in the group and Indiana was it.

I really needed a new start, so I came back home.”

After returning to Irvine, Flint decided to attend OCC, but not

necessarily for the football.

“I went there, because my friends went there,” he said. “I wasn’t even

planning on playing football, but after talking to my friends and some

coaches, I decided to give it another try.”

Flint attributes a good portion of his success to offensive

coordinator Sean Ponder, who helped him understand the finer points of

the game.

“Coach Ponder really helped me in terms of reading defenses and

picking up little changes and reads in the defense,” Flint said. “He

always had a lot of confidence in my abilities and he helped teach me to

not to get too excited on the positives and not too down on the

negatives.”

Out of the records that Flint has set in his two years at Coast, the

career passing yards total is the one he takes the most pride in.

“I just sort of glanced at it when the season started,” Flint said. “I

had a good game in the opener and I realized if I kept it up, I might

have a shot at it. Since it was nearly a 30-year-old record, it’s a real

big honor.”

So what’s next for Flint? “I’ve got a trip out to the University of

Hawaii to see their program,” Flint said. “They’re probably the

front-runners. There are others in the mix so nothing is for sure.”

Taylor sees some big things ahead for his now former quarterback.

“I think he has a real bright future ahead of him,” Taylor said.

“He’ll have the ability to play every Saturday wherever he goes and

maybe, down the road, we’ll be seeing him play on Sundays. He has the

ability to go a long ways.”