Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips has a story that every college freshman and rookie entering the NFL should be forced to listen to before ever stepping foot on the field.
Phillips had it all — first at Nebraska — then as a high first round draft pick of the St. Louis Rams. Phillips inability to channel his anger and emotions cost him his college and professional career, before landing him in prison.
Phillips, 40, is serving a 31-year sentence following a 2009 assault conviction, and will likely receive more time after allegedly killing his cell mate.
In letters to his high school coaches, Phillips calls prison the “jungle” — claiming to have “zero friends.”
“We have been in lock down about 80 percent of the time,” Phillips wrote to Ty Pagone, Phillips’ vice principal and coach at Baldwin Park (Calif.) High School. “You would be surprised at what these altercations are about! Nonsense! But when your world is this small all one has to care about is nonsense. That is why I do not want any of these idiots in the cell with me.”
Phillips had initially pledge to avoid the trouble and unrest that comes with prison.
“All they they want to do is the drugs, make knives and make alcohol,” Phillips wrote to Pagone in June 2014. “Then they say when they get out they will not come back. I tell them of course you will. You are doing the same thing that got you locked up. Of course they do not want to hear that. It is like speaking to a brick wall.
“Now I understand how people must have felt talking to me. So needless to say I have zero friends inside here. Not one person is in line with my way of thinking.
“Well that’s all from here, Pagone. I will stay out of trouble. I might have to endure some write-ups for refusing a cell mate though. Better that than them getting me into serious trouble.”
Hopefully young athletes will take heed and avoid the BS or risk ending up like Phillips or even worse. One of the best natural running backs of my generation will likely die in prison — whether it be of old age or a violent altercation.
Smarten Up Nas!
