Carter Senior Follows in Famous Friend's Footsteps

Phillips will look to make name for himself at Tech.

Whether it's fair or not, Jarvis Phillips has some shoes to fill.

Who had 134 catches for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2007 as a red-shirt freshman?

This guy did. So what does Michael Crabtree have in common with Jarvis Phillips? Many things.

They both went to Dallas Carter, they both played quarterback in high school in Carter's run-based offense. They both played guard in basketball, and, oh yeah, Phillips followed in one of his mentor's footsteps on Wednesday by signing to play football at Texas Tech.

Phillips, of course, can't be expected to do what his friend did after an unplanned red-shirt season that was probably his biggest blessing. Now, Crabtree is set to be a Top 5 NFL Draft pick in April.

Let's compare Crabtree's statistics from his senior year at Carter in 2005 to Phillips' in 2008.

Both players lost just one game their senior year -- in the playoffs. Crabtree was 11-1. Phillips was 12-1.

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Crabtree rushed for 646 yards and threw for 870 with 20 combined touchdowns. Phillips ran for 884 and passed for 904 with 18 combined scores -- in one more game played.

Some talk out of Lubbock is that Phillips might not even play wide receiver. The Tech coaches are considering moving Phillips to defensive back, but with some of Tech's other signees that play in the defensive backfield such as Abilene Cooper's Will Ford, Denton Ryan's Yahshua Williams and Garland Naaman Forest's Terrance Bullitt, it might be a little crowded.

At receiver, Tech stole Wichita Falls Rider's Eric Ward from Oklahoma.  Ward should contribute immediately and Tech has a good group returning from last season led by Detron Lewis, who fits the Crabtree mold physically.

All of that adds up to a pretty good possibility that Phillips will be red-shirted, this time on purpose and not because of NCAA Clearinghouse issues, and come next year, maybe Phillips will be lighting up the Lubbock nights on ABC Primetime like Crabtree made such a habit of doing.

Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. He loves his mother. He has middle-child syndrome.

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