By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Finding a position where Jake Phillips could excel on the football field was easy.

The Regina senior has seemingly done it all the past two seasons.

Picking a permanent spot for the multi-talented Phillips has been the more difficult chore for the Regina coaching staff.

“He can play any position,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “He knows how to get everybody lined up defensively, offensively, he knows all the concepts he knows all the routes you could put him in any one position and he’d know what to do and he’s a gifted guy. He can play.”

Phillips showed his versatility last season playing running back, receiver and defensive back while helping Regina reach the Class 1A title game.

That was just the beginning for Phillips.

As a senior the 6-foot-0, 200-pound Phillips has lined up at quarterback, running back and receiver while accounting for 652 yards of offense and nine touchdowns.

On defense Phillips is even more versatile playing everything from defensive end to cornerback.

“It doesn’t really matter it’s just where the team needs me at,” Phillips said. “I can shift around to help out the team so anywhere is fine.”

Phillips put his diverse skill set on display in a 55-34 win over Columbus in the regular season finale for fourth-ranked Regina (7-2).

He rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown, caught two passes for 14 yards and threw for 68 yards and a score.

“It’s a lot of fun always being on the field and being able to do different things,” Phillips said. “Sometimes I play corner and sometimes I play what is essentially a defensive end.”

The first touchdown throw of Phillips’ career came with him lined up at wide receiver. He took a backwards pass and threw back to quarterback Michael Conlon who went 61 yards for a score.

“I threw it all the way across the field back to Mike and he went for like 60 yards,” Phillips said. “Those were all my yards.”

Not quite all the yards.

Phillips also took snaps at quarterback and completed a 7-yard pass to freshman Alec Wick.

According to Cook the ability to put Phillips in a wildcat formation taking direct snaps comes from his knowledge of the offense.

“He is a joy to coach, he has a great personality and his football IQ is off the charts,” Cook said. “He is a smart guy and he’ll do anything you ask him to do.”

This season Cook and the Regina coaching staff have asked Phillips to do anything and everything.

He has rushed for 235 yards and five scores and leads Regina with 23 receptions for 349 yards and three touchdowns.

Phillips averages 29 yards per kick off return and 13.3 yards per punt return and has returned a kickoff 80 yards for a score.

I would say I like playing wide receiver the best,” Phillips said. “I like being out there on the outside and being one-on-one with people. That’s the most fun because if you beat one guy you are usually gone.”

Phillips has been even more versatile on defense.

He started the season at outside linebacker, moved to corner back and has played safety and defensive end at times.

Despite all the movement he ranks sixth on the team with 24 tackles including 23 solo stops.

“It depends on what we need and where we have a concern and where we need to shore down our defense,” Cook said. “If a team is attacking us a certain way we are going to put him in a position to help stop what they are doing.”