Is Kenny Phillips the nations best player

The Rivals.com staff is spending a lot of time this week trying to decide which players will be rewarded with a five-star ranking. Furthermore, the staff is trying to decide who will be named the nation’s top player. While there are several worthy candidates, one name that keeps popping up in both discussions is Carol City, Fla. safety Kenneth Phillips.

“I am probably averaging 30 something calls a night,” Phillips said. “Sunday night the phone rang over 70 times. Most of the calls are college coaches and some of it is internet and magazines. To tell the truth I haven’t talked to all that many college coaches, because I am so hard to get in touch with, I've just missed most of them.”

Some of the schools that have gotten through to Phillips are Florida, Florida State, Miami, N.C. State and LSU.

“My list of favorites is still pretty much the same as it was," he said. "The main ones are Florida, Florida State, Miami, NC State and LSU. I dropped Rutgers off the list and added LSU to my top five.”

What caused the defending national champions to enter his list?

“Well, they have been recruiting me really hard lately," Phillips said. "I have never visited there, but I have had the chance to talk with some of the guys from around here that have gone there and they were just telling me how it is and stuff. I really want to take one of my official visits there and see it for myself.”

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Phillips is a physical freak who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds. He has a vertical jump of 37 inches and a bench press of 255 pounds.

"I’m ready for my senior season to try and repeat what we accomplished last season," he said.

Phillips is in excellent academic standing with a 3.7 grade point average.