GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – O’maurie Phillips grew up loving football at the age of nine, but by ninth grade he was fed up with football and stopped playing. He needed a few friends on the team to give him another chance and it paid off.

Coach Ron Cook had no idea who he was his freshman year, but he quickly learned…

“In the spring of his freshman year, a couple of guys said he’s going to play next year, Maurie’s going to play, and I thought, who’s Maurie, oh, he plays basketball, he’s at the gym, okay, he’s tall, that’s good, very Already you could tell from the first time he played in this scrimmage that he was different.

This fight also turned things around for O’mauri and confirmed to him that his instincts had not waned.

“Not being in that match, I felt like I was still doing it, but at the same time I wasn’t doing it, but going out there during that fight, I felt like it was still in my blood.”

Phillips later played three different positions (Defensive End, Linebacker and now Safety), rotating every year. Division I coaches took notice because he has offers from Navy and Boston College.

His last season in high school is also noteworthy – in six games he already has 6 picks and 27 tackles. His 6-0 Jaguars will play at home next Friday and face 2-3 Washington.

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