For JaCoby Stevens and Jacob Phillips, Saturday isn't just another SEC game, it's a homecoming

Tennessee natives excited to play in front of family, friends

LSU junior safety JaCoby Stevens hasn't been home to Murfreesboro, Tennessee since his freshman season with the Tigers. Fellow junior linebacker Jacob Phillips went home three times this summer alone.

When Phillips goes home, his main goal is to spend time with his recently born niece and nephew. Since the 2019 schedule was released, Stevens has had the Vanderbilt game circled on his calendar because of the excitement level to play in front of friends and family.

"It's a big homecoming," Stevens said. "I already have people texting me asking for tickets and telling me they're excited to see me play. It's pretty exciting to go play in front of fans and family."

But this week, the Tennessee natives will be returning home with one goal in mind, to win.

Stevens and Phillips faced each other in high school while Stevens was a sophomore at Oakland High School in Murfreesboro and Phillips was a sophomore at Beech High School. Phillips and Stevens said there was never a rivalry between them but both had no problem claiming their school was better.

"He thinks his school is the best, they have a couple of championships and have a lot of top players, but they're alright I guess," Phillips said. "It wasn't a rivalry but I feel like they weren't that good for what JaCoby said they were."

While on the field, there was certainly a competitive nature to their relationship, off the field the two were working out with one another while trying to make the biggest decision of their lives, where they were going to college.

Stevens received an offer from LSU in 2014 and had fully committed to the Tigers by the start of his senior year in 2016.

Phillips wasn't sold on LSU for the longest time and it wasn't until his official visit to Baton Rouge that he really started to feel comfortable with moving that far away from his hometown. 

"I never really considered LSU until I first came down here," Phillips said. "But talking with coach O about the future and coach Aranda I felt like it the was the right place for me." 

Now, two years later, Stevens and Phillips are two major pillars of the LSU defense as Phillips led the returning team in tackles a season ago. Stevens made his mark as a quarter safety, a position that allows him to play closer to the line of scrimmage while rushing the passer at times.

This offseason, Stevens worked on his technique as a free safety, which is the center fielder of the defense and a position that he admittedly struggled with at times in 2018. 

"Over the summer I knew that I had to get better in the post," Stevens said. "Usually it's just foot work and loosening your hips up and just actually getting an understanding of what you're seeing from the offense."

With the latest, season-ending knee injury to safety Todd Harris, who manned that free safety spot for much of the first three games, coach Ed Orgeron said Stevens will play a bit more in the free safety spot than he was previous to Harris' injury.

Stevens is his own biggest critic and thinks he could've done a way better job in the free safety spot the first three games. When Stevens moved to the quarter spot last season, he said one of the things that clicked with him was simply not thinking or over analyzing as much but at the free safety spot, said there's more he has to be aware of.

"Closer to the ball, you're reacting a whole lot more but at free safety you still want to be reactive but you can't get out of position," Stevens said. "Once you get out of position back there it's a touchdown.

Phillips has remained the constant in the linebacker room the last two years. He started along side Butkus Award winner Devin White in 2018 and has maintained that starting job in 2019 with Patrick Queen, Michael Divinity and Damone Clark all receiving ample playing time as well.

Through three games, Phillips and Stevens are first and third on the team in tackles as Phillips has recorded 25 tackles while Stevens is at 17. The two Tennessee natives are making the most of their opportunity, and will be factors for this defense moving forward. 

If it were a night game for the Tigers on Saturday, Phillips said there's plenty he would try to catch up and do for a few hours in his hometown, most notably eat at Hattie B's chicken restaurant. For Stevens, he's not sure he'd even recognize a lot of the new places around town as he hasn't been back since his freshman year.

Since it is a morning game and the itinerary calls for no real free time for the players to explore Nashville a bit, Phillips said he's looking forward to playing in front of his family and friends.

"Just seeing all my family and friends there supporting me," Phillips said. "Some people can't always come to my games down here so having them there to see me will be the best feeling."