4-star LB Joseph Phillips commits to Auburn Tigers: 'It's where I know I want to be'

Tuskegee (Ala.) Booker T. Washington four-star linebacker Joseph Phillips has gone back and forth over the past few months about which team was at the top of his recruitment.

In-state Auburn came on strong after the hiring of Hugh Freeze, but schools like Georgia and Tennessee never went away. But the Tigers’ relentlessness and the opportunity to build his own legacy at a program close to home was too much to pass up, and on Thursday he publicly announced for Auburn.

“At first it was Auburn, then the past two months it has really been Georgia. I was on Georgia bad. But the last two weeks, getting back to Auburn — it’s a different feeling when I walk in there,” he told On3. “It’s where I know I want to be, and I know I can live in Auburn.”

Phillips was on campus a couple different times in the past two weeks, and that’s when the tide really started to shift Auburn’s way.

“I knew in the beginning of last week that I wanted to go to Auburn, but I went the other day that just set it over the top,” he added. “My dad didn’t really care too much for Auburn at first, but he told me that he feels like this is where I need to be, and I went on and jumped on it. … When he told me he felt like I should go here, that just set it over the top.”

Family environment was a key factor for Joseph Phillips

Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M were the other schools in his top five, but Phillips felt something different at Auburn. The chance to play close to home and the environment he felt since Freeze has taken over made the Tigers stand out above everyone else.

“Everybody there is really cool and it’s close to home. And when I walk in the building, I feel like I’m wanted. It’s just a different feeling versus when I go to other schools. I know I can make my own name for myself, whereas some of these other schools have already done it. I don’t mind walking in and building my own thing; I don’t want to be just an average college football player that went to Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee or those type of schools. At Auburn, I can build my own legacy.”

He believes Freeze and his staff have injected new life into the program and that the 2024 class has a chance to begin the path to bringing another national championship home.

“When Coach Freeze got there it really just shot through the roof,” he said. We have an opportunity. And it’s just going to take this 2024 class to get some good recruits on defense and offense to really solidify it. I don’t expect it to be some quick turnaround. But I think in the next few years, we’re going to be competing for a national championship.”

The 6-foot-3, 235-pounder is the No. 132 overall prospect in the 2024 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He ranks as the country’s No. 11 linebacker and the No. 8 recruit in Alabama.