Clark Phillips III Reflects On Historic, Roller Coaster 2021 Season With Utah Football
Jan 8, 2022, 9:42 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah football program has gone through some high points, while also dealing with horrific tragedy and Clark Phillips III reflected on all of it.
Utah cornerback Clark Phillips III had some insightful on what happened during the 2021 season while on his podcast “Faith, Family and Football.”
You can listen to the full show, below.
Clark Phillips’ Reflection On 2021 Utah Football Season
It was a season for the ages for Utah football, from changing quarterbacks, a 1-2 start, tragically losing two players in one year, winning the Pac-12 title, playing in the Rose Bowl and everything in between.
“The Utes in 2021 were relentless,” Phillips said on the podcast. “We were determined, battle tested, strong minded, strong willed, encouraged, undeniable. The way that we handled adversity was something that I aspire to do for the rest of my life. I learned that from this team and I’m forever grateful. That team is special. I’ll never forget some of the things that were said in the locker room.”
Phillips talked about the mantra that the team has lived by this season where players become a part of the program and not the program becoming a part of the player. That all starts with the leadership of the team.
“The collective leadership from from multiple guys,” Phillips stated. “Just seeing how leadership was formed throughout the season, not just by playmaking, but just vocally by actions, and it was just consistent, you could feel the culture turn a corner. Even after game one, game two, game three, like it just it turned the corner and it was like ‘this is who we are, this is who we’re going to be.’ After the San Diego State loss, I feel like that was one of the last straws. We just kind of felt like the team got closer, got stronger. Then we had tragedy and we just got even tighter, even stronger. Tragedy struck, we looked to each other and we said, ‘we are all we got and we’re all we need.’ I’m grateful for the team that I have.”
Phillips gave great insight on the three key plays he made in the Rose Bowl, graded his 2021 season as a whole and much more on the latest episode.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com, Co-Host of Faith, Family and Football podcast with Clark Phillips III and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports.