Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Junior linebacker Braylon Phillips and Bearcats’ Head Coach Jeff Littleton were acknowledged for their excellence at the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) All-State Game last week.

Littleton was selected as the head coach of one of the All-State teams, and Phillips was selected as a linebacker on that team. 

GACA reached out to Littleton before the 2023 season with the coaching opportunity, and Phillips was chosen for the team with support from Littleton.

“I nominated him,” Littleton said. “He got selected for it because he was one of our leading tacklers.”

Phillips said he had looked forward to his All-State selection for 365 days. Keenan Phillips, senior running back and Phillips’s brother, played on the junior team last season.

“I was waiting for the opportunity since last year when I went to watch Keenan,” Phillips said.

Littleton and Phillips were a part of the Danley Sound Labs team, and they won the game 26-7. Keeping the opposition to no more than a touchdown has become commonplace for Littleton and Phillips— The Bearcats did it in half of their games this season.

“[Phillips] played well,” Littleton said. “We felt like he was one of our better linebackers there.”

Phillips said he enjoyed the game and that it served as an opportunity to improve at his position.

“The game was really fun,” Phillips said. “It kind of helped me learn a couple of things that I haven’t really learned here… playing with guys that aren’t on our team and who are probably better than me, they can help me get better.”

The All-State game served as one more opportunity for the Bearcats to get full-speed experience before spring training begins. The team is losing 19 seniors going into next season, and Littleton said it’ll be important to fill those spots in the offseason.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” Littleton said. “We’ve got to replace a lot of starters… [Phillips] will be one of the bright spots returning.”

The Bearcat defense will lose more than half their starters to graduation, and Phillips will be tasked with a more prominent role in the 2024 season.

“I’m going to have to be a leader,” Phillips said. “Just how every other senior was, especially Murph and Keenan, I’m going to have to take that role next year.”

And Phillips isn’t worried.

“Oh ya I’m ready,” Phillips said. “I’m always ready.”