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Frenship quarterback Holden Phillips to join Texas Tech football team, school says
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- Frenship quarterback Holden Phillips to join Texas Tech football team, school says
The Texas Tech football quarterback room is taking a hit during NCAA transfer portal season, but it appears Joey McGuire's staff is taking steps to address the depth.
Not with just any passer. With one of the leading passers in Texas this season.
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Frenship has scheduled a ceremony Tuesday to publicize quarterback Holden Phillips soon joining the Red Raiders . The NCAA's three-day early signing period ended Dec. 6. Frenship coach Jay Northcutt said Phillips is looking to enroll at Tech in January at the Tech staff's request.
Phillips threw for 4,453 yards, 57 touchdowns and seven interceptions this season. The Tigers list him at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. During the early period, Tech signed Frenship wide receiver Leyton Stone , who caught 70 passes for 1,488 yards and 29 touchdowns.
"He's a pretty special player at that position," said Northcutt, whose team went 10-2. "He's the type of kid that can do the normal things really well, but I think the thing that really makes him special is his ability to make the uncommon play. He can buy time. He keeps his eyes down field really well. ... He's just a very dynamic player."
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Phillips is leading Texas high-school players in TD passes this season, according to MaxPreps. His passing yardage total is second behind Dallas Parish Episcopal's Sawyer Anderson, a grandson of Tech great Donny Anderson.
Adding quarterback depth became a must for Tech when Cameran Brown and Jake Strong had their names entered into the NCAA transfer portal during the 20-day window that opened last week. Brown and Strong ended the regular season third and fourth on the depth chart.
The Red Raiders typically carry at least four quarterbacks on the roster, often five, not just for injury insurance in games but to effectively conduct practices. They're also likely to have two fewer QBs throwing during spring football after starter Behren Morton underwent shoulder surgery last week. Lloyd Jones III, a December signee from Hitchcock, also is recovering from injury.
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"I thought the irony of that is, what are the odds that, number one, all that happens like it did?" Northcutt said. "And then 10 minutes down the road, you've got the number-one passer in the state of Texas that can come help you?"
McGuire named top backup Will Hammond to start against Arkansas on Dec. 27 in the Liberty Bowl .
Frenship's Holden Phillips throws the ball against El Paso Montwood in a Class 6A Division II bi-district football game, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, at Peoples Bank Stadium in Wolfforth.
Phillips is in the midst of Frenship's basketball season and wasn't planning to be a mid-term departure, Northcutt said, until his Tech opportunity came together just in the past week.
Phillips was a first-year starter, partly explaining his delayed recruitment timeline. Hudson Hutcheson, now at Kansas State, threw for 84 touchdowns as Frenship's QB in 2022 and 2023. Power-conference schools also like to lock in their quarterback pledges early, many before their senior season begins.
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Phillips, a starting guard in basketball and a middle infielder in baseball, had committed to play baseball at Angelo State , which has made the NCAA Division II national championship game each of the past two years.
"But then he just had such a great year," Northcutt said, "I think he kind of changed gears a little bit and wanted to see what other opportunities he was going to have out there. There were schools he was starting to get traction with."
Northcutt said TCU offensive coordinator Kendal Briles was first to call and offer Phillips a walk-on spot. Northcutt said Phillips also had offers from Division II programs West Texas A&M, UT-Permian Basin and Fort Hays State and walk-on offers from Stephen F. Austin and UT-San Antonio. Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Cumbie and North Texas coach Eric Morris also had shown interest.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Frenship QB Holden Phillips to join Texas Tech football team, school says
