A one-time OU pledge, Jacob Phillips cherishes path to LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. — 5-stars are expected to see the field right away.
That was not the path for Jacob Phillips, who as the nation’s No. 2 linebacker in January 2017, was two weeks away from signing his national letter of intent with Oklahoma. Weeks after earning the head coaching job at LSU, Ed Orgeron sat in Phillips’ living room and made elaborate promises to the then-5-star linebacker in hopes of exacting a flip.
The coach with the Cajun accent came through. Phillips committed and then signed with LSU, but spent his freshman season in a reserve role. The Nashville, Tenn., native had certainly questioned that decision days ahead of National Signing Day, but those concerns were put to rest on Sunday when Phillips took the field as the starting middle linebacker beside Devin White.
After a season debut featuring a pick-6, a turnover towel GIF that engulfed the Twitterverse and being named the SEC Player of the Week served as gratification Phillips, whose year-long wait finally paid off.
“I never second-guessed it,” Phillips said in reference to flipping from Oklahoma to LSU. “I feel like God has a plan for me and I’m here for a reason. There were some situations where it could’ve been easy for me to do so, but I’m glad I didn’t and I’m glad I’m here.
“It’s a great achievement. It’s always a blessing. I stay humble and try to work hard to achieve what you want to achieve in life, and it pays off when God walks with you.”
Staying focused wasn’t always as Phillips made it out to be. Even as a recruit, switching commitments wasn’t the easiest of tasks.
As a senior as East Nashville High School, Phillips had eyed a mid-season decision. He was scheduled to make an official visit to LSU on Oct. 1, 2016, but wound up traveling to Alabama instead. It wasn’t until Orgeron earned the head coaching job and sent former general manager Austin Thomas back to his home turf in Tennessee to convince the one of the state’s top prospects to give the Tigers a second chance.
“LSU wasn’t one of my top schools in the latter part of my recruitment until Coach O got the job,” Phillips recalled. “I had already been committed to Oklahoma for a while, but I stayed in contact with Austin Thomas just because he’s a hometown friend. He told me Coach O wanted to come see me and he came to my house and told me and my family things about how much success I could have at LSU. I trusted in him, I came on a visit and saw everything about LSU and I knew I wanted to come.”
Phillips backed up White and senior Donnie Alexander during his true freshman season, and was second in the linebacker rotation behind fellow Class of 2017 signee Tyler Taylor.
Frustration naturally settled in, but Phillips stayed true to his faith and keep his eyes fixed on seizing an opportunity. In the spring, Phillips emerged as the starting middle linebacker and never looked back, but leaned on the lessons learned as a reserve a year ago to keep his emotions in check.
“You have to do a good job of taking it day by day in everything that you do and try not to look forward to too many things,” he explained. “It’s just another day. I was nervous. I had first-game jitters, but I tried to slow it down by thinking of it as another day.
Those jitters quickly dissipated — at least by the second quarter when Phillips snatched on a DINO route. Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda warned his sophomore linebacker that Miami runs No. 3 (tight end Brevin Jordan) in fast, that No. 2 (wide receiver Jeff Thomas) would be the primary target. Phillips was in charge of that zone.
Anxiously waiting the pass from Malik Rosier, the first-time starter jumped in the air and had to snatch the ball. Phillips admitted he thought the pass would be thrown higher. Nose tackle Ed Alexander tipped the ball and it fell into Phillips’ mid-section, and from there, pay dirt.
“I saw a path to the end zone. It seemed pretty far, but I enjoyed every step,” Phillips said. “One of my favorite parts of the whole experience was having my teammates there to celebrate with me. It’s something I’ll always remember.”
Moving forward, there are no doubts about Phillips’ grasp on the starting job, only optimism about LSU’s dynamic 1-2 bunch in the heart of the defense. It doesn’t hurt that like White, Phillips is putting a ton of stock into his conversations with Aranda.
From flipping commitments and watching from the sidelines last year, Phillips never wavered. Those promises that Orgeron made in his living room are beginning to come to fruition. And while those decisions were never simple, they are finally paying off, and Phillips is piecing together what appears to be a memorable 2018 campaign.
“To wear LSU on your chest means a lot. It means doing something to be remembered and I’m just blessed to be in this opportunity,” he said. “There’s a lot of greatness in this program — the past players who played here, the success of the players in the NFL and the players we have on the roster. All of us push each other to get better and the coaches we have formulate plans for us to be great every day. It’s always about getting better and I really appreciate that.”