When Southeast Missouri State alum Ryan Flournoy was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on April 27, he received a phone call from owner Jerry Jones himself, telling the Redhawk, "I’m proud to call you a Dallas Cowboy.”

Four months later, the August 27 deadline to finalize the 53-man regular season roster has passed, and Flournoy made the cut as a wide receiver.

Nobody in Cape Girardeau was happier for Flournoy's success than his college coach, Tom Matukewicz.

"A life dream of his and he made it a reality," Matukewicz said.

Flournoy caught nine passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns through three preseason games. The two touchdown receptions alone put him on the radar as a dark horse candidate to make the team.

"A lot of people just all of a sudden will assume he's an overnight sensation," Matukewicz said. "But if you really got to know his story, you know he's been through the valleys and now he's on the mountaintop. And I'm just so happy for him."

Leading up to the NFL Draft, Flournoy told Semoball during a 5-story series on his journey to the Draft that his hidden talent was the ability to "do literally anything."

“A lot of football teams I’ve been on everybody has asked ‘What can’t you do.’ Even outside of football, I’m a creative mind," Flournoy said. "I think I can do anything.”

Flournoy was the first SEMO player to participate in the NFL Scouting Combine since Angel Rubio in 1998. He posted a 4.44 in the 40-yard dash, ran a 1.53 in the 10-yard split, and had a vertical jump of 39.5” and a broad jump of 11’0”.

“It's made to drain you,” Flournoy said. “It’s made to see how you perform with less than six hours of sleep. But, it was definitely a great experience.”

Flournoy lining up with the Cowboys in Cleveland on Sept. 8 for their Week 1 game against the Browns will mark the beginning of the dream phase of a football journey that started when he was five years old.

Flournoy played high school ball at Homewood-Flossmor in Flossmor, Ill. He started on the freshmen team standing at 5-foot-3 and under 100 pounds, but made the varsity squad as a junior.

Flournoy went on to start his college career at the University of Central Missouri, a Division II program. He spent two years as a Mule and the 2021 season at Iowa Western Community College before joining the Redhawks but he was always motivated to be a Division I football player since the end of his senior year of high school.

“I was highly motivated," Flournoy said. "A lot of kids would just give up if they didn't get the offers they were looking for.”

Flournoy was named team captain in his first year as a Redhawk in 2022. In two seasons as a starting receiver at SEMO, Flournoy had 118 receptions for 1,823 yards and 13 touchdowns. He finished his career ranked eighth among the school's career leaders in receiving yards and tied for ninth in receiving touchdowns. Flournoy was a two-time First-Team Big South-OVC Association selection, as well.

“SEMO was the best decision I’ve ever made,” Flournoy said.

“The people there treated me like family,” he added. “They were there to help in so many different ways. They boosted me not only as a football player but as a man.”

In his first season, he led the Redhawks to the FCS Playoffs with a share of the Ohio Valley Conference championship, by amassing 984 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.

“I had the mindset of leaving SEMO better than how I found it,” Flournoy said. “It was already a great program and I just wanted to give my all to SEMO.”

His second season was met with physical adversity as he spent much of it with his left hand and wrist tapped up like a billy club. He hauled in 57 catches for 839 yards and 6 touchdowns and was a bright spot on a disappointing 4-7 season.

“The adversity that I dealt with by getting injured twice at SEMO really helped me,” Flournoy said. “Being a captain and a leader really prepared me with how to deal with other players and coaches.”

Flournoy is set to become the 24th SEMO alum to appear in the NFL when the Cowboys take on the Browns on Sunday, Sept. 8, on FOX.