Tobin Phillips had no way of knowing when he was in second or third grade picking a college team to be a fan of that he would grow into a 6-4, 285-pound defensive lineman recruited to play at that school. Phillips remembers drawing pictures of himself wearing a Stanford uniform as a little kid and now he'll be wearing a real one for the Cardinal next season.
Phillips didn't chase offers or camp circuit fame as a recruit and for all intents and purposes ended his recruiting process when he was offered by Stanford a couple months after his junior season. Content to keep his head down and work away from the bright lights in Fresno, Phillips had 90 tackles and 14 sacks his senior season for San Joaquin Memorial, which lost to Serra in the state playoffs.
Phillips went down memory lane with Cardinal Sports Report to go in detail about his journey to sign with Stanford.
You seemed to have Stanford have on your mind for a long time before you were offered. Can you explain why you had your eyes on the school for so long?
“I have to say, growing up watching college football I was looking for a team to follow probably around second or third grade. I’d gotten good grades and my parents made sure that education was a big part of my life. They always told me that the best of both worlds is Stanford.
“They said you should go there since I was so athletically and academically driven. In third or fourth grade is when I really started my infatuation. I had drawings of me in the uniform when I was younger. I don’t know if I have them anymore but I remember doing them.”
Stanford was rising to its prominence at the time, so who do you remember watching play?
“I remember watching Andrew Luck when I was younger. I watched a lot of Pac-12. At the time the Pac-12 was dominant in national college football. I watched Oregon a lot (and) SC. But Stanford stood out, especially when my parents told me about the academic side of it.
“I watched every (Stanford) game on TV. No matter what, I had my hat and watched games from home.”
What was that like for you to grow up thinking about Stanford, being a fan, and then you become a football recruit and then you get offered. Can you talk me through the process of realizing that this was going to happen?
“I always had it in the back of my mind getting the call or the letter with the offer. That is what I was working toward. I think my sophomore year I really realized that I was getting dominant and I could become a recruit they could look at. I had the football aspect covered and I was working hard there. I had to work equally hard in the classroom to make sure my grades were good enough. There are a lot of really good players who they won’t offer if the grades aren’t good enough.
“I got the offer after my junior season. There were other schools talking to me and I wasn’t as interested in them. When I started getting recruit mail from Stanford that was when I was like, ‘Wow, this could really actually happen.’ Then after my junior year they offered me in February and that was unreal.
“Before I got the offer I thought there might be some other schools I’d want to visit just to see. I was thinking of Notre Dame. I was getting stuff from them and they have the academic aspect to them. As soon as I got the Stanford offer I realized there wasn’t any other school I wanted to even visit. Once it was a reality I realized it was the only place for me to go.”
How did the reality of being offered and visiting live up to what you dreamed about?
“I had visited a few times growing up. The first time I went to campus was in sixth grade. My parents wanted me to see it. My sister (Georgia) was interested in going there and she’s only a year older than me and she was doing track at the time. (Georgia is now a water polo player at UCLA.)
“My first experience was a golf cart tour when I was in sixth grade and I actually got to see everything. That was really awesome.
“My freshman year my sister was getting recruited for water polo there and so I was able to go on some recruiting visits for water polo with her and the rest of my family. I was able to see that a little bit.
“When it came time for me to go for football that was even more exciting because I got to see all the football aspects of recruiting and how it was different from other sports. By the time I went on the junior day I knew a lot about what to expect. It just reaffirmed it was going to be the right decision.”
There are a lot of recruits who keep working the process even when they get an offer they really like. It can help build up a recruit’s profile to get more offers. Did you ever think you were a little under the radar because you found your school and didn’t pursue other offers?
“Yeah, I’ve always had that in the back of my mind that if I had held off to try to get more offers would my ranking be higher? Would I be seen as a better player? In the end it didn’t really matter for me because I felt like I would be wasting my time knowing that this is 100 percent the school I want to go to. I would be leading other schools on for a long time and in the end I didn’t really care what other people thought because I was ready for the recruiting process to be over.
“Even before Stanford offered there were only a few schools I would have considered going to because of the academics and athletics. Once I had the offer I didn’t care about rankings because the school I would be doing that for already offered me.”
One of the reasons I brought that up is that during the December signing day press conference David Shaw made a point of singling you, Josh Karty and John Humphreys as underrated recruits. Your answer provides a lot of the reason for why people who weren’t recruiting you didn’t necessarily know a lot about you. It seemed you were content to keep your head down without fanfare. How did you see it?
“Growing up, my parents always told me not to believe the hype and hype is just words. What only matters is the outcome you produce. Instead of worrying about what other people thought I just worked on getting myself as good as I could be because in the end everyone is going to have to play and own up to what they’re ranked. It’s better to work hard and exceed expectations instead of chasing the hype and then underproduce.”
Coach Shaw also mentioned that your parents didn’t let you do heavy weightlifting until a couple years ago. Is that right?
“My parents didn’t want to push me too hard too early. They wanted me to develop naturally and not worry about that as much. They waited a good amount of time until they could see I was done growing and that I was ready to take it on full steam ahead. Sometimes if you go too early you get injuries. I haven’t had many injuries. I credit it to that in some ways. I’m happy how everything turned out. Now I’m lifting on a regular basis and I’m getting stronger and faster.”
We talked at times before you signed about getting to know the coaches, especially Diron Reynolds, and your classmates. What is that relationship like now and how it’s been getting to know everybody?
“It’s really great. Everyone I’ve encountered at Stanford has this certain demeanor about them that is just put your head down and go to work. Be the best you can be, really. What I found about being recruited by other schools is that it’s a lot about being loud and in your face. And worrying more about your image rather than what you actually produce.
“Especially going on this last official visit I was able to see how like minded me and all the other recruits are. I was able to meet the other position coaches and see how similar they are to Coach Reynolds. I found that attractive from being recruited by Coach Reynolds. Then seeing all the other players got me even more excited to go there.”
You and Lance Keneley are the only scholarship defensive linemen in the class. Have you had a chance to get to know Lance?
“I got to hang around with him a lot during the official visit. I try to keep in contact with him. I also try to keep in contact with the walk-ons. I know Zephron Lester and Matt Merritt from Buchanan in Fresno. I’ve actually grown up playing against him in Pop Warner and stuff.
“I know Coach Reynolds is starting to schedule some Zoom meetings with the D-linemen in our class and with that I’ll be able to get to know them more.”
I’ve spoken with Keneley about his love of cooking and I have to think eventually that will make him a prized roommate. Has that been brought up at all with Lance?
“I think I remember him mentioning it on the official visit. I think it’s great. I like to cook a little myself. Especially if we pair up as roommates we’d be quite the duo. We’d have a lot of players come over just for dinner.”
When I was looking at your bio you listed chess and ceramics as hobbies. That’s an interesting combination. What brought that on?
“I grew up playing chess with my dad and my sister. In elementary school I was in the chess club. I think it’s a great game. It’s almost like football the way you have to look at steps ahead. I’ve just always loved the game.
“Starting my sophomore year I was able to enter ceramics class. I don’t know exactly what it is about it but making something with your hands I always found interesting. I was only required to take it one year but I’ve taken it every year since that first class. Hopefully I’ll be able to carry it over to Stanford because I really enjoy it.”
Shelter in place has obviously been a weird experience. What has it been like for you as a student and having to prepare physically to be a student-athlete soon in college?
“Even though it has been hard not being able to see everybody, in a way I think it’s helping me to learn to do things on my own. There aren’t many people and I’ve had to train myself and teach myself. I think that’s beneficial for when I have to move and I’ll be on my own. I try to find a little light through that because I’ve never had to do this before.”
That brings to mind discipline. Your sister plays water polo at UCLA. Your dad played football at Long Beach State. And I see your uncle played at Cal Poly, so being a student-athlete seems to run in the family a bit. What was it like growing up when there seemed to be an example set that you followed?
“It was really fun growing up. My parents always pushed for that to happen. Actually both my dad and uncle had chances where they were supposed to go on even further but injuries stopped them.
“My dad was at Long Beach right when they were about to cancel the program and he was going to transfer to UCLA. Then he got into a car accident and wasn’t able to go.
“My uncle was a tight end and was supposed to sign with Cal but in his last high school game he shattered his ankle and they took away his scholarship.
“So, almost my whole family was looking to me to be the one to finally make it. They both had that chance and were so close. Even though they made it in a way they never fully made it. I think in that sense my parents really made sure everything went right because they had seen in their own lives when things go wrong. They wanted to make sure I stayed healthy and academically sound so that there would be no risking anything.”
When I talked with Coach Reynolds the first time about what he liked about your film and the first thing he brought up was that you’re about 6-4 and 300 pounds but you move really well. It was pretty straightforward that he was impressed by your footwork. For you, is there some enjoyment if opponents are surprised by how well you can move at your size? What is the work you do to have the balance of speed and power?
“I always like surprising people when they look at me and they can see what I can do and what they thought I wasn’t able to do. It’s been normal for me growing up because I never played D-line. The first year I played D-line was sophomore year. All growing up I was running back, fullback and middle linebacker.
“It wasn’t until sophomore year that I started to get bigger and they put me on the line. I transferred that quickness into my defensive line game. I had always had quick feet and I was able to use that. It was crazy to see how much I was able to translate over because they’re vastly different positions.
“It was nice to see my natural footwork as a linebacker was able to be used to my advantage as a defensive lineman getting out of cuts and shooting over to different gaps. To get my footwork up I haven’t had to do much work because I naturally had it for a long time. I do try to keep it up with different ladder drills and do sprints to keep my speed up.”
