By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Greg and Regina Phillips insisted on their son playing the game of football.
That moment 10 years ago was like pulling teeth for the couple because their boy Gibson didn’t like being forced to take on the game. After a few years with the Tipton Chiefs/Bulldogs program, Gibson matured into a Tipton-Rosemark Academy Rebel and devoted lineman.
“I started playing football when I was about 9 years old,” Gibson recalled. “I really didn’t want to but my parents forced me to. Glad they did.
“I was homeschooled while I played for the Tipton Chiefs,” he continued. “Then I came over here to Rosemark in seventh grade. I didn’t play in seventh grade. I started playing in eighth grade. Ninth grade I moved up and started playing, and loved it. The whole time I was here I possibly knew I could have a future. I kept working.”
Greg knew a year prior that his son had the potential to take his skills, talents and love of the game to the next level. On April 6 in the TRA Lobby, Greg’s vision came to reality when Gibson signed his national letter of intent to play for the Hendrix Warriors.
“For this day it has taken a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication and a couple of swift kicks to the butt,” Greg recalled. “And a lot of prayer.
“I knew in his eighth grade year he could play college ball,” he added. “One day when I was dropping him off for freshman ball I told him, ‘It all starts here.’ I was dropping him off for summer workouts, ‘This is where it all starts if you want to play in four years.’ This days means a lot.”
The day was also meaningful for first-year TRA Rebel Head Football Coach William Dean. The Phillips signing marks his first varsity player to ink a scholarship to play college football.
“Ever since I’ve known Gibson as a freshman, he didn’t play a whole lot back then,” Dean recalled. “But you could tell by the work ethic and his attitude that at some point his day was going to come. He’s one of those kids he’s a football player through and through.
“Hard-nose, he loves and embraces all the gritty parts about football, that part that is not much fun to most kids,” he added. “I think he’s absolutely the right guy to be my first signee. I had to put money on one of them to succeed at the next level, it’s him.”
Phillips was a starter on both sides of the line in 2021 earning All-Region and Tennessee Sports Writers Association All-State honor.
“I love the physicality,” Gibson said. “I love hitting people. The love for the game kept me coming back. I knew I had a future. That’s my home — on the field. There’s no place I’d rather be than playing alongside the guys I had a chance to play with. I love those guys. We hang out with each other outside of school. I kept coming back for them.”
Phillips gave his all for his teammates and fellow seniors Payne Fullen, Thomas Patton, Jonathan Stewart, Gavin West and Ben West Aiden.
“He played multiple positions,” Dean noted. “He’s a really smart kid. He was able to play multiple positions on offense and turn right around and play multiple positions on defense. The only thing I didn’t mention, a lot of the defense evolved around him. He was the strength. He was always on the strong side. He was smart enough to know that stuff and smart enough to tell the people around him where they needed to go.”
Phillips is going to Conway, Ark., to play for Hendrix Head Coach Buck Buchanan. Buchanan is also the defensive line coach. The Warriors are a NCAA Division III program competing in the Southern Athletic Association.
The name Gibson Phillips has now been added to recent Rebels like JT May (Samford), Nathan Bradley (Memphis) and Carter Weakley (Hendrix).
“I had plenty of experience playing with guys that went to the next level,” Gibson said. “So I knew what it took to get to the next level. Of course working out in the weight room, getting bigger is what I’ve done.”
Gibson had to overcome injuries and missed a year of football after a concession. Those tough moments involving football made him realize how much he loves the game.
“When you have a child who has a passion for what they do, it’s hard to hold him back,” Regina said. “We can’t do it. There are plenty of plays when I am cringing and it is hard to watch sometimes, but he loves it. We wouldn’t take that away from him.
“He’s fearless and very tough,” she added. “Growing up he never got hurt. We saw him do some of the wildest things, crazy stunts and the kid never got hurt. It’s just in him.”
Another benefit of football for Phillips over the years has been sharpening his leadership skills. As one of the Rebel captains, Phillips helped with the transition from Coach Shannon O’Brien to Coach William Dean.
“(My leadership) carries on and off the field,” he said. “Moving up, I had great guys above me who showed me what a good leader was. By junior year I started to earn the respect of the guys. Coming into senior year with the new coach and everything, I knew I had to help lead. Like Coach Dean said, he had to earn the respect of us older guys because he knew the younger guys would follow us.”
Now as he prepared to exit the TRA Campus in a few weeks, Phillips is a leader to next year’s Rebels by example.
“I’m not done, so I take no days off,” Gibson said. “I go in there and I work out. I’m normally in there by myself. I wait until everyone else is gone and I got the whole weight room to myself. I turn the music up all the way and just go at it. It’s like therapy to me.”
Trusting in the process and holding onto his faith kept Gibson sane when waiting to be recruited.
“When the season started, he didn’t have any offers,” Greg acknowledged. “We weren’t too sure how it all was going to play out. But we figured God is going to put him where he’s supposed to be at the right time. We never really sweat it too much. We didn’t get anxious. Eventually Hendrix called. Then Bethel called. Then we heard from Central Methodist in Missouri and College of Wooster in Ohio.”
Nearly becoming a Fighting Scot at Wooster, it was Gibson’s faith stepping in again that made him wait for the ideal offer.
“I was patient,” he said. “I prayed about it everyday. I was faithful because I knew God would show me where He wanted me to go. He showed me four schools and from there I slowly narrowed it down. I’m signing with Hendrix.”
Dean said Hendrix is the perfect landing spot for Gibson and he has the right ingredients to be a success with the Warriors.
“His work ethic, he waits until our football team heads out and he’s in there by himself lifting as much as he can,” he noted. “He’s doing the little things here and there. He’s been good about embracing it. It won’t be that huge of a drop off like for some guys when he heads to the next level.”
A milestone moment for his coach and validation for his mom’s time, Gibson’s signing to Hendrix confirmed a father’s belief in his son.
“Dad was a little more of the encourager compared to mom,” Gibson said. “He would drop me off and give me the 15-minute talk all the way to practice. ‘Hit’em hard. You’re going to wish, you don’t want to waste any plays because when you’re my age you’re going to regret it.’
“He was always saying, ‘Every play 100 percent, put it all on the line,’” he concluded. “That has always stuck with me since my first freshman practice. I’ve always taken that with me.”
