This Time, the Recruiting Process Was Easy for Oklahoma DL Phillip Paea
NORMAN — Oklahoma is getting an experienced veteran of college football in defensive tackle Phillip Paea.
How experienced?
So experienced that, at 24 years old, he was not all that interested in the Sooners’ usual recruiting accoutrements.
Flashing lights? Sure, whatever. Individual photo shoots? OK, if that’s a thing. Smoke and music and Air Jordans? You really don’t have to.
That illustrates the divide that has been created between current high school recruits trying to build their college football brands from the ground up and graduate transfers in the portal just looking for a practical place to finish their college careers.
“You go on the recruiting process, especially as a 24-year-old kid, you know, you’re just like, wondering what's real and what's not. … But then eventually you get here and then you sign the paper and everything, and it's all still the same. It was definitely a good process for me.”
Paea comes to OU from Utah State, where he played two years (2021-22). Before that, he spent four years at the University of Michigan (2017-20). Paea has a bachelor’s from UM and is just short of a master’s from USU.
“So I can go back and finish that,” he said. “At the end of the day, worst thing is I've walked out of here with a Michigan degree and two masters. Nothing wrong with that.”
Paea is 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds and will fit in immediately at OU as a run-stuffing defensive tackle.
“They told me they were looking for someone to come in and make an immediate impact,” he said, “but also someone that — you know, obviously you’ve got to come in here and earn that role. Because, like, this d-line, they’re great. JK (Jordan Kelley), now we got Da’Jon Terry, (Isaiah) Coe, you know, a lot of older guys with a lot of experience.
"So looking at the roster, I knew it was gonna be a grind. But at the end of the day, I'm gonna be playing with them, you know, not against them. So I feel like it's gonna benefit me more to learn from these guys that were playing in this conference for a long time. So I just kind of took it as a challenge, but something I'm willing to step up to.”
Defensive line coach Todd Bates said Paea has impressed his teammates with his work ethic.
"Just grinded man," Bates said. "When you come into a new place when you want to play ball, last thing you want to do when you come in that locker room is come in talking a bunch. And (Paea) came in working a bunch."
Paea is older but doesn’t exactly bring a vast resume of game experience, having played in three games in his four years in Ann Arbor, including two on the offensive line. He did play in 14 games in Logan as a fifth-year junior in 2021, recording 14 tackles and two tackles for loss, then started the first three games of 2022 before a knee injury sidelined him the rest of the season.
It’s that knee injury that he’s been closely monitoring since arriving in Norman over the summer.
“The biggest thing,” he said, “is just getting over the mental hump. Yeah, just being able to fully trust it, and when I'm making those cuts, don't think about it, kind of just go after it.”
After Paea entered the NCAA Transfer Portal for the second time, he was being recruited mostly by Ole Miss and BYU. He had decided on BYU, which was great since he is related to Cougars coach Kalani Sitake (think Paea might have OU’s Nov. 18 trip to Provo circled on his calendar?) and, with his Tongan heritage, would fit in culturally.
But that opportunity fell through, Paea said, and he had to start looking around.
“It was especially easy for me being in Logan to take that trip down to Provo and just like, hang out with those guys see what they got going on,” he said. “But then that ended up falling through. And then from there, you know, I didn't really have a place to go because I was kind of set on BYU.”
He reached out to one of his high school coaches who had relocated from Michigan to Nevada and asked him to be on the lookout for any FBS coaches who might be in the market for a defensive tackle. That coach then reached out to a Nevada high school legend.
“He ended up hitting up DeMarco Murray,” Paea said, “and then DeMarco was like, ‘You know, I don't know what spots we got left but I’ll set it up for Coach Bates.’
“When he did that, I got a call soon after that. It was good.”
Recruiting began all over again. But it was simpler this time.
When Paea was coming out of high school in Berrien Springs, MI, as a member of the 2017 class, the recruiting world looked a little different. It’s evolved suddenly and now requires a lot of flash and dash that is ubiquitous now but back then hadn’t really been conceived of yet.
“You don't really know what's true or what's not so you don't really know what to expect,” Paea said. “ … They show you all the Jordans during the photoshoots, you know, all the smoke and stuff like that. But, end of the day, you know, sit down, I realized what Coach Bates himself has to offer, what BV (head coach Brent Venables) has to offer and what Coach (Miguel) Chavis has to offer, and what all of them have done. And just the resume alone, like, it's more attractive than all those other things.
“Here, it's like football 24/7. It's what you need if you want to get to the next level. You know, these coaches are there 24/7 talking ball with you. But also they're there to talk about families, everything like that. So you get the best of both worlds. And you know, it's something I really appreciate being here.”
