Marcus Phillips Jr. plays tight end at Northern Arizona University.
He is defying the odds by playing football at 7,000 feet elevation, while having sickle cell trait.
Phillips is from Las Vegas, Nevada and was a walk-on wide receiver at University of Nevada Las Vegas, before going to play at Southern Utah University.
Now, Phillips is a graduate transfer starting at tight end for the Lumberjacks.
Over the first four games this season, Phillips has two touchdowns and 96 receiving yards.
While football is something Phillips plans to pursue after college, he also has other goals.
“Obviously, I want to pursue pros first and foremost, I already have a psychology degree—I’m trying to complete my masters which is MBA. Eventually, if I don’t obtain my MBA, I’ll probably open up a shop or two, and take my degrees where they take me,” Phillips said.
NAU’s football season is still young, but Phillips shared his favorite moment as a Lumberjack so far.
“We just beat Montana—I scored a big touchdown in that game, we knocked off a ranked team and that was our first win of the season, and my first win with this team—I’m the new guy here that’s a graduate transfer, so that’s definitely my favorite moment,” Phillips said.
Phillips talked about how playing at Flagstaff’s high elevation has made training, practicing, and working out extremely difficult for him, including playing in home games.
“This is really interesting and personal for me to share, but I have sickle cell trait, and we’re out here at 7,000 feet—and this is the hardest, hardest thing I’ve ever done in my football career, is playing at this type of elevation,” Phillips said. “Somehow, I’m powering through it and I’m a starter here but its been hard because I’ve never had my body work against me in the sport that I love.”
Everyone knows that going pro in any sport is a tall task, and Phillips had good advice for young athletes.
“I’ve been in college since 2018, and it’s 2023 now. I will say that you got to enjoy every moment, you got to enjoy the bad moments, the good moments, you got to enjoy every day because it will go by quick, Phillips said. “And now that I’m on the back end of my college career, and I don’t know where we’ll go after this—so make sure that you enjoy every day, you work hard every day, because you never know when it’s over, you never know when it’s going to end.”
