Living Legacy: Trent Phillips makes history at Legacy Charter

Every high school has college signing-day events to celebrate student-athletes’ achievements.

But the one in the gym at Legacy Charter Wednesday, Dec. 18, was special.

Surrounded by his family, Trent Phillips cracked a smile as he placed a Stetson University hat on his head.

With that simple gesture, Phillips made school history by signing to play football at Stetson University. He officially is the first student-athlete from Legacy to go Division I.

“It feels really good knowing that I’m the first,” Phillips said. “Going up through middle school playing sports there, I always heard, ‘If you want to play at the Division I level, you had to go somewhere else — Ocoee or West Orange.’ I just kind of used that as fuel to the fire.

“I just kept working every day and that was my goal — to prove to everyone around me that you can do things, you can be an uncommon breed and be different than everyone else and still make your own path,” he said.

Legacy football coach Trent Hopper was among those who attended the signing. Having coached Phillips for the last few years, Hopper knew it would be Phillips who would make history.

“If anyone deserved to be honored as the first DI kid, he’d be it,” Hopper said. “He’s not overly tall, overly big or overly fast, he just works his tail off. Any time you can shower praise on a kid like that, life is good.”

“I HAVE TO BE THE FIRST”

Phillips first picked up football at an early age, but it wasn’t until his freshman year at Legacy that he grew serious about the sport.

There was a fire that lit up in him going into high school, and he dedicated himself to his sport. But he was also realistic and understood the trials of become a factor on the team.

“I had a little bit of determination and dedication, and then you add in people saying I can’t play Division I football or people saying I’m just like every skinny, athletic white kid at Legacy,” Phillips said. “There were some obstacles, but I knew it would pay off in the end.”

The first obstacle that first year of high school was that he had to play behind his brother on a team loaded with senior talent. There also was the aspect of physical size.

Going into high school, Phillips was about 6 feet tall and 160 pounds, and he knew those numbers had to change. That’s when he discovered the weight room.

“I realized I needed to step up,” Phillips said. “I just kept gaining weight and grew an inch, and then sophomore year, I gained some more weight and some more weight, and I became faster and stronger, and it just kept getting better each year.”

The end of that first year, Phillips learned no student-athlete had ever made it to the Division I level from Legacy.

That’s the moment when he realized what he had to do.

“I made that my goal,” Phillips said. “No one had ever played anything with Division I, so I was just like, ‘OK, I have to be the first.’”

Through his sophomore and junior seasons, Phillips made significant headway on the team — becoming a starter at slotback on offense and defensive end on defense. He refined every aspect of his game and started getting attention from a few schools — including Stetson.

With each year his dedication grew, and Hopper and his staff took note of the strides Phillips made. he had become a football-playing machine.

“He was the kind of guy who has his playbook under the pillow — and he actually literally kept his playbook under his pillow,” Hopper said with a laugh. “There were times when we heard about him in December pushing a sled up and down a hill behind his house because he didn’t drive yet, and he couldn’t get to the gym that day.”

However, all that hard work felt as though it would be bulldozed in the first game of the 2019 season.

On the first offensive drive of the year, Phillips went down with what he thought was a stinger. But the diagnosis was worse — he had torn his ACL. 

The injury sidelined him for the entire year, and Phillips was put into physical therapy for months. It was the hardest thing he had ever done, Phillips said.

Fortunately for Phillips — and thanks to starting the recruiting process early — Stetson stood by its offer despite the injury. Becoming a Hatter also was made easier after Jacksonville University — which had also shown interest — folded its football program.

Despite the setback — which will affect his first year with the team — Phillips is ready for the challenges that come with college ball.

“I know it’s going to be a little awkward being in unfamiliar territory, but at the same time, it’s going to be so much fun — I’m going to be doing what I love,” Phillips said.