Nations top safety names top five

Now that the May evaluation period is in full force one name you can expect to hear a lot is Carol City (Fla.) safety Kenneth Phillips. Phillips is considered by some to be the top player in Florida, the nation’s top safety and a near lock for a five star ranking. He is now up to ten scholarship offers and is beginning to think more about his college choices.

“I have ten offers now I think,” said Phillips. “We have had a bunch of schools come by already and they have left me a bunch of their cards through my coach. It’s been pretty crazy because they have been coming to see me and Ricky Jean-Francios.”

While Phillips has tried to keep fairly quiet about who he is favoring right now, he finally did give a set top five.

“All three Florida schools are right there. Miami, Florida and Florida State are probably my top three. After that it’s probably Rutgers and NC State for the rest of my top five. People don’t take me seriously when I say Rutgers, but I really like them and they are a program on the rise.

I would put them in the category with the three Florida schools right now. NC State recruits Florida really hard and they have made me a top priority. I really like the way they run things up there and I could see myself fitting in there.”

The 6-foot-2, 185 pound safety has a 4.43 second 40-yard dash and has a 37-inch vertical jump.

“Florida was the first school to call, they called on May 1st. The coach that is recruiting me from there, coach Anderson, called me and told me how bad they wanted me. They had not even offered until recently, but they have now, all the Florida schools have.”

Phillips is not only one of the nation’s top players, is an excellent student that sports a 3.7 GPA. As a junior he made 48 tackles and seven interceptions.

With Carol City’s location and recent history of sending players to Miami, many think that Phillips is a done deal for the Canes. While he admitted they are very high on his list, he said it was far from a done deal.

“I went to Miami’s spring game and it was nice. My cousin plays for them so we went to watch him and he did okay. I got to talk to coach Coker, man he is a real cool guy. He’s like a homeboy.”

With another of the nation’s top defensive players on the defense as him, have he and Jean-Francios discussed the possibility of attending school together.

“Me and Ricky have talked about it and we think that it would be cool it we did. We are both just going to wait until the end of the year, take our visits and see what happens.”