FORT COLLINS — Colorado State coach Mike Bobo admitted he and his staff were walking into a new frontier with the addition of the early signing date, but the program came out the other side with 17 players added Wednesday, the last one providing the exclamation point to the day.
Devin Phillips, a 6-foot-2, 305-pounder, was the last to send in his paperwork, and the defensive lineman from Monroe, Louisiana, becomes the first ESPN Top 300 player to ever commit to the program. A four-star recruit by that service and a composite three-star by all others, Phillips was once committed to TCU and held offers from other Power Five schools, but will join his brother, offensive lineman Joctavis, in Fort Collins.
Having family on hand helped, he said, but he also is excited about the chance to come in and make an immediate impact.
“It was the community, the coaching staff; it was just a nice place to be,” Devin said. “The chance to make an impact, that played a major role in signing at Colorado State.”
Phillips is one of three brother connections, along with Zach Schlager of McCook, Nebraska, (Jake just graduated) and Trey McBride of Fort Morgan (Toby is a defensive lineman on roster).
Phillips was a player Bobo said his staff recruited hard the entire time, and added with another defender they got on to late, Dequan Jackson, he believes the defense got two huge additions.