OT Phillips excited to commit to Colorado State
It took exactly one month for Dr. Phillips offensive lineman Kyjuan Phillips to announce he was going to become a Colorado State Ram.
Phillips, a 6-foot-4, 286-pound tackle, received a scholarship offer from CSU on May 8. He committed to the Rams and new head coach Steve Addazio on Monday night, June 8, announcing his decision on his Twitter account.
“One thing is like everywhere you look there is going to be mountains and there’s still snow on the mountains and that’s just new to me coming from Florida,” Phillips said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “And then the staff all came from like Boston College and they coached [former DP safety] Matt Milano. And some of them are friends with Coach [Rodney] Wells [of DP] and like Steve Addazio, he coached with my O-line coach [Adam Sitter] at Florida and so did the running backs coach Brian White.
“All the connections are great and that staff is used to winning and I feel like they are going to change the program. Colorado State is gonna do big things.”
Phillips follows a long list of former Dr. Phillips players who signed with Colorado State. In 2009, there were RB Marvin Ford, LB Charles Favors, LB Marquis Hood and QB Nico Ranieri, and they were followed by RB Dee Hart (2014 Alabama transfer), ATH Deionte Gaines (2014) and OL Colby Meeks (2015).
He picked CSU over Pittsburgh, FAU, East Carolina and Middle Tennessee State.
Phillips knows the weather will be a bit of a culture shock for him.
“Well, I can’t be wearing shorts everyday, so it’s going to be different, but I’m gonna like it though,” Phillips said. “They said yesterday it was like 90 degrees and no humidity, so it will be different. I’m from Maryland, but I moved down here when I was like 4, so I don’t remember the snow, but I’m up for it.”
Phillips said he’s up for any position on the offensive line, but he’s targeted as an offensive tackle. He thinks he could contribute right away.
He is the third DP rising senior to commit this spring, joining DB Ja’Dai Smith, who is headed to FAU, and WR Ledger Hatch, who will be enrolling at Harvard.
“It’s crazy. Every class at DP always has one or two D-1 prospects,” Phillips said. “Our offense this year is going to be crazy, so it will be something different. Hopefully we can get these workouts in.”
The coaching staff in Fort Collins was excited to hear the news Monday. Phillips FaceTimed offensive line coach Louie Addazio to tell him, and the whole staff was there at the same time.
“I just said, ‘Well, Coach, I want you to know I’m 100% committed,’ and they all got excited and passed the phone around and that was it,” Phillips said.
He said his mom and grandmother were also excited.
“My mom, she loves Colorado, and my grandma, when she lived in San Francisco, she took a train that went through Colorado and she thought it looked so nice,” Phillips said. “Now I don’t have to worry about contacting any other coaches or anything. I’m excited.”