Randy Phillips excels with first team at practice

As a bit of a surprise, rookie safety Randy Phillips joined the first team for the Lions’ morning practice just three days after he signed with the team.

Phillips, a standout at the University of Miami, took the place of Marvin White, who had been practicing with the first team along with fellow safety C.C. Brown.

Phillips, an undrafted free agent, joined the Lions for minicamp in June and coach Jim Schwartz was impressed with how much he had retained.

“He was never really behind,” Schwartz said. “He’s smart. He has experience playing a lot of schemes we play. He picks things up very quickly. He’s a bright guy. He was never really behind.

“That’s a tribute to him. He came in in minicamp, got up to speed there, kept his mind in it and when he got the opportunity he was able to come in and show himself right away. That’s rare that guys can do that. But again, we’re talking about a couple days. Let’s let it be and continue over a period of time.”

During his time with the Hurricanes, Phillips played under Lions secondary coach Tim Walton when he was Miami’s secondary coach and defensive coordinator.

“There’s always going to be a familiarity when you have experience with a coach,” Schwartz said. “You’re going to speak the same language and you’re going to understand what that person wants. But that’s not going to be his evaluation. That helps him be where he is right now, but that doesn’t help his evaluation.”

Phillips said he knows what Walton wants and expects.

“Yeah, it helped that we had a previous relationship,” Phillips said. “I know him. I know what he expects: hard work. He expects to put extra time in the playbook and know everything and expects me to know multiple positions. Knowing that, I just stay on top of all of that.”
Defensive end Turk McBride also joined the first team, subbing for Kyle Vanden Bosch on the right side. Schwartz said he decided to rest Vanden Bosch for the entire morning practice, although he could practice this afternoon.

“He’s got some muscle tightness, but he was already scheduled to be a rest,” Schwartz said. “Generally when he rests, he goes through individual and still likes to do that and lead his group. But today we just said, ‘Let’s nix that and we’ll see where he is this afternoon.’ But he didn’t have anything that’s going to keep him out.”



(freep.com)