Jonathan Phillips - Back For More
Sunday, November 29, 2009 | Football
By Mathew McLarnon, UF Communications
University of Florida and Southeastern Conference football records indicate that 2008 was an astonishing year statistically for kicker Jonathan Phillips, a season that was closer than most fans may realize to never happening.
In 2005, Phillips was recruited out of Wellington, Fla., by the Gators as one of the country's top kicking prospects and was part of head coach Urban Meyer's initial recruiting class. As a freshman, Phillips had the opportunity to kick in six games, followed by another three outings in his sophomore year. Similar to many high school kids coming to play college football, Phillips didn't quite know what he was in for.
“I expected to start and play every game, but that didn't really work out the way I had planned,” Phillips explained.
In retrospect, however, he wouldn't have had it any other way.
“I could have gone to another school and started every game, but I'd never want that, I wanted the struggle and the reward,” he said.
Phillips was ready to make a name for himself in 2007 until a freak accident during preseason practice sidelined him for all but one game, a 30-24 win against Ole Miss. During the trip to Oxford, he had to step in for an injured Joey Ijjas and ended up aggravating his own injury.
Looking back on that shortened year, Phillips recalled, “It was just a surreal experience. That year I felt like I had finally done it, I was kicking well in practice and I thought that I had an edge.”
After a season on the bench, Phillips began to feel that his time at Florida was over and was ready to move on. He was accepted to law school at the University of Miami and was prepared to leave Gainesville for Southern Florida. However, Coach Meyer felt that Phillips needed to give college football one more shot, as Ijjas was going to graduate and the starting kicker position would once again available. Forgoing his acceptance to school in Coral Gables, Phillips enrolled once again at UF, this time in the Masters in Real Estate program. At the time, he didn't even know for sure if he would earn the starting job, he was just looking for the opportunity to prove himself.
Ultimately, this decision presented to Phillips resulted in the chance to join his teammates as national champions. His 78 of 79 point-after attempts during the 2008 season established SEC records for the most made and the most attempted extra points in a season and his total of 114 points ranked him among the top single-season point producers in the history of the league. These achievements also made Phillips a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top place kicker every year.
“In 2006, I got SEC and National Championship rings,” Phillips said. “I was part of the team and it meant a lot, but being the kicker and being depended on gives a completely different value to the 2008 rings.”
That should have been the fairy-tale ending to this Gator's unexpected career, but once again the wind changed. Phillips doesn't really remember whose idea it was, his or Coach Meyer's, but he decided to apply for a medical red-shirt for his sidelined 2007 season which would allow him to come back to help the Gators defend their title. The odds were slim and expectations were not high, but in the end the NCAA saw fit to grant Phillips his request.
Emphasizing that he still planned to attend law school, but just put it on hold for the time being, Phillips originally intended to earn a second Master's degree, this time in International Business. Then, as if fate wouldn't let his roller- coaster story end, Phillips received an acceptance to UF's Law school mere days before orientation. Since then, he has been juggling both full-time law-school and football responsibilities.
“It's hard,” Phillips said. “I wish that I was playing more now, but that's just how it is.”
He's never had a problem with the balance before though. Phillips has been recognized in each of his three years as a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, which was all the time he needed to finish his finance degree. He credits a pair of professors, Dr. Archer and Dr. Ling, for helping him balance his graduate degree and record-breaking season.
Sophomore Caleb Sturgis has taken over most of the kicking duties this season, but Phillips says there are no hard feelings between them.
“Most kickers wouldn't say this,” noted Phillips, “but I hope he makes every kick. A lot of times there can be ill will, but here at Florida it's not like that.”
-UF-
