Jaelan Phillips – September 18, 2024
Download PDF version
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
LB Jaelan Phillips
(We all saw kind of saw the Instagram post that you made, if you feel comfortable sharing a little bit about what was behind it.) – “I think I just wanted to convey a message to people, it’s really anybody in general but especially young athletes and stuff. I feel like some people are naturally, supremely confident, but I feel like a lot of people kind of struggle with their confidence and I just wanted to convey the message that even if you do struggle with your confidence, you can still move past it, you can still be successful. It’s really about how you handle those times like that and how you move forward from it. So I just think it’s important – I feel like a lot of people might assume because we’re big, brawny athletes that either we don’t go through the same emotions or whatever, but I think it’s impactful for a lot of people to be able to see that from us. A lot of people obviously idolize us, and for us to be candid about our emotions, I think that’s super important. Especially for men in general, I feel like it’s kind of stigmatized to be vulnerable and some people might see it as soft to speak about your emotions, but I think it’s important, like I said, to convey that message and show people that they can be themselves. They don’t have to be anybody less than what they are, and they can go through tough times, they can go through times of self-doubt and low confidence, but you can always push your way out of it.”
(What was it that triggered that?) – “I mean that’s kind of what I went through after the game on Thursday. I feel like I have a lot of high expectations for myself, and I didn’t live up to my standard so kind of instantly, all of the negative voices in my head start berating me. Like I said yesterday, it takes a concerted effort to switch that mind frame and start to love yourself and tell yourself positive things instead of just pounding yourself down. So yeah, like I said, it was that process – happened on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – it was tough because it was a long weekend, so we couldn’t just put it to bed and move on. By Monday, that’s kind of when I started to turn the page and get back into a routine, and at the end of the day, tough times don’t last but tough people do.”
(How do you start that process of being positive to yourself?) – “I think it’s important to sit with those feelings. I don’t think it’s beneficial to try to ignore those feelings. I think it’s a good practice to try to tell yourself the opposite when you have those negative thoughts, ‘I’m not good enough. People don’t love me,’ whatever the case may be. Tell yourself, ‘I am good enough. I am blah blah blah.’ But I think it’s just like sitting in that and understanding that it’s OK to have down days or if it’s two days or three days, but it’s not OK to stay down and start spiraling and to not take that step forward. So what I said yesterday, it’s like for me, my routine and discipline is what carries me because you might think about something a lot for a couple days, but then once you get back into your routine, back in here, meetings, with the boys, working out, stuff like that, you just kind of forget about it, honestly. It still sits with you, but you’re able to look at it from a different perspective.”
(What’s been the feedback that you’ve gotten on that post?) – “A lot of love. I mean it’s not like I was asking or trying to, ‘Pity me, woah me,’ this and that. Like I said, it was more about conveying that message, and really it was on my heart and I just wanted to share that because I think it’s a valuable lesson and something I’ve learned through the adversity that I’ve had. It’s just like I said, how you respond to things is what determines how your life is going to be. It’s not the moment itself, it’s how you respond to the moment. So I think a lot of people have just been like thankful that I’ve had that vulnerability and spoken out. People told me that they really related to it, that they’ve told their young kids that, so I think it was overall definitely positive.”
(What happened in the game that you didn’t feel great about?) – “I feel like I just wasn’t impactful. I guess I’m just a little hard on myself. I still got to remind myself that I’m coming off of a major injury, we had a short turnaround. It’s really only the fourth time I’ve put on pads this year – only the second full, full-speed game, like going to war that I’ve played. So I think I just got to give myself grace, but I just kind of felt that I wasn’t impactful out there and made a couple of boneheaded plays because I was trying to do too much, trying to make big plays, obviously how the game was going. So I think it’s just a good reminder to myself to trust myself and to stay within the scheme and stay within my game and not try to reach for anything.”
(With the situation that the team faces right now, having to play a month without QB Tua Tagovailoa, what can the defense do to carry their share of the load?) – “I just think we got to do our job, that’s all we can do. We don’t have to play bigger than what we are; we just got to do our job – stop the run and then rush the passer. It’s simple as that, get the ball back for our offense. So I think we’ve been doing a good job. I think we have a lot to improve on and we’re going to improve on it, but I don’t think we have to do more than what’s required of us for us to win. I got a lot of faith in Skylar (Thompson), I’ve got a lot of faith in our offense in general. So I think if we can just go out there and play the brand of defense that we all know that we can play, then we’ll be good.”
