Oklahoma and LSU have a defensive connection in the Peach Bowl, and it stems from one of the more fascinating recruiting stories
ATLANTA — On college footballs selection Sunday, two friends knew they’d get to see each other again.
Right after Oklahoma and LSU were announced as opponents in the College Football Playoff at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Robert Barnes picked up his phone and texted LSU starting linebacker Jacob Phillips right away.
“Me and Jacob kept contact since he committed here and we were supposed to be roommates when he came here,” Barnes said. “We’ve been very supportive of each other throughout our careers and I’m proud to see what he is about to do in this game and I know he’s been looking forward to (playing in the College Football Playoff) since he’s been at LSU.”
It’s one of many relationship Philips still cherishes.
“They were very close,” he told Sooners Wire at Peach Bowl media day. “I was committed for I think like three months so you know we used to talk like every day. You know just can’t wait to get to campus and different things like that. In the end obviously I went somewhere else but you know when you build relationships like that some of them, even through like the thick, they kind of keep on going.
Barnes and Phillips ‘chopped it up’ this week when getting to see each other for the first time in years, according to Barnes, but how the two didn’t become roommates remains one of the more fascinating recruiting stories and one that benefitted LSU greatly.
The state of Tennessee’s No. 1 player in the 2017 recruiting class was a recruiting battle that seemed to get then-linebackers coach Tim Kish over-the-hump.
Oklahoma first offered Phillips in the summer of 2015, three months before the first non-Tennessee offer came (Oregon). He was a high three-star, low four-star prospect at the time, standing 6-foot-3 and a good frame to build into.
Texas A&M came calling after, then Notre Dame, Auburn, Alabama and lastly—LSU.
Oklahoma and Kish proved themselves right with a great evaluation as that light 6-foot-3 linebacker turned into a 6-foot-3, 235 pound five-star recruit. Right before the notoriety came, Phillips committed to the Sooners.
He spent three months committed to Oklahoma.
Then, a change of heart came.
And a phone call.
“It was really important,” said LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, “It was. Internally at that time, we needed some middle linebackers. (Jacob Phillips) was the number one player in the state of Tennessee. He called me and said, ‘Coach, I need you to come see me.’ I got on a plane, was there the next morning.
“His mom and daddy trust us. They love Dave Aranda. They love the scheme. (Jacob) has been one of the best players we’ve had on our football team. He’s a great young man, great character. I’m glad we got him.”
LSU was more than willing than pick up that phone call.
The Tigers had more specialists on the team at the time than inside linebackers.
“It was big—going into that recruiting cycle, we really had no linebackers returning or very few linebackers returning,” said defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. “It was a drastic, drastic need. I remember early in the process, when all of that is identified in what we got to do fix everything, some of the thought was do we want to go junior college or want to do this, want to do that. Our thought right away was to recruit a freshman, develop them and to go that route. The problem with that is just how strong the recruiting battles are and how late we were into the party, there was some ground we had to make up.
“I assisted in recruiting Jacob. We worked really hard at it. Were able to make headway into it and I’m very thankful we were able to get him. He’s played ever since he got here.”
It’s hard not to imagine the potential of top Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray and Phillips playing side-by-side. That thought is one Aranda oohed and aahed about when asked on Thursday at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl media day.
The other was not having Phillips at all, as Aranda noted he legitimately doesn’t know what he would do without him right no.
Phillips is still thankful for everything Oklahoma did for him during his recruitment, and is now hoping he can reach his goals of winning a national championship as an LSU Tiger.
“Oh it was definitely tough,” he said about calling Oklahoma and de-committing. “I looked at Oklahoma like … I mean it was a major blessing to be in that position and they were great people, all the recruits, all the players, every time I went there there was nothing but the best so gratitude to Oklahoma but in the end it was God’s plan for me to come to LSU.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
