Syracuse University WR and West Haven resident Ervin Philips Named Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year
Syracuse University senior wide receiver Ervin Philips (West Haven, CT) has been selected the Walter Camp 2017 Connecticut Player of the Year. The award is presented to the top college football player who is a resident and/or played scholastically in the state of Connecticut. The award is voted on by the Walter Camp Football Foundation membership.
2017 Walter Camp Connecticut Player of Year – Ervin Philips
Philips is the fifth Syracuse player to earn the honor, joining former Orange standouts Dwight Freeney (2001), Kyle McIntosh (1997), Rob Thomson (1990) and Terry Wooden (1989).
A Second Team Atlantic Coast Conference honoree in 2017, Philips recorded 89 receptions for 904 yards and four touchdowns. His 89 receptions were second only to SU teammate Steve Ishmael, a Walter Camp Second Team All-America honoree, in the ACC.
Philips also ranks sixth in the country in receptions per game (7.7) and 38th in receiving yards. Philips had two 100-yard receiving performances, including a career-best 188 on a school-record 17 receptions on Sept. 30 versus North Carolina State. Philips also posted four receptions for 94 yards and one touchdown in an upset victory over top-ranked Clemson on Oct. 13.
In 2016, Philips recorded 90 receptions for 822 yards and six touchdowns and earned All-ACC Honorable Mention. For his collegiate career, Philips had 223 receptions, which ranks second in school history, for 2,069 yards, which is the seventh-best total.
A native of West Haven, Philips played scholastically for head coach Ed McCarthy at West Haven High School.
In his senior year, Philips led the Blue Devils to the Southern Connecticut Conference Division I East title and a berth to the Class LL state semifinals. A consensus All-State honoree, Philips was named the SCC Division I Player of the Year and also earned Walter Camp All-Connecticut honors. Philips set school career records for rushing yards (4,596), touchdowns (88) and total offensive yards (6,182).
Philips is the second former Walter Camp All-Connecticut Team scholastic honoree to go on to earn Connecticut Player of the Year collegiate honors, joining former St. Joseph HS and Temple University linebacker (and current Pittsburgh Steeler) Tyler Matakevich.
Philips, along with the members of the 2017 Walter Camp All-America team and Player of the Year Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma), Coach of the Year Mark Richt (Miami), along with other major award winners (Alumni Award-Eddie George; Man of the Year-Calvin Johnson; Distinguished American-Lee Corso), will be honored at the organization’s national awards banquet, presented by David McDermott Lexus of New Haven, on Saturday, January 13, 2018 at the Yale University’s Lanman Center.
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team. Visit www.waltercamp.org for more information.
Connecticut Player of the Year
Presented to the top college football player who is a resident and/or played scholastically in the state of Connecticut. The award is voted on by the Walter Camp Football Foundation membership.
2017 – Ervin Philips, WR, Syracuse
2016 – Noel Thomas, WR, Connecticut
2015 – Tyler Matakevich, LB, Temple
2014 – Tyler Murphy, QB, Boston College
2013 – Kevin Pierre-Louis, LB, Boston College
2012 – Bjoern Werner, DE, Florida State
2011 – Silas Redd, RB, Penn State
2010 – John Moffitt, OL, Wisconsin
2009 – Aaron Hernandez, TE, Florida
2008 – Kory Sheets, RB, Purdue
2007 – Mike McLeod, RB, Yale
2006 – Kory Sheets, RB, Purdue
2005 – John Sullivan, C, Notre Dame
2004 – Anttaj Hawthorne, DT, Wisconsin; Dan Orlovsky, QB, Connecticut
2003 – Dan Orlovsky, QB, Connecticut
2002 – Niko Koutouvides, LB, Purdue
2001 – Dwight Freeney, DE, Syracuse
2000 – Peter Mazza, LB, Yale
1999 – Bobby Myers, DB, Wisconsin
1998 – Carl Bond, RB, Connecticut
1997 – Kyle McIntosh, RB, Syracuse
1996 – Tarek Salah, LB, Wisconsin
1995 – Tarek Salah, LB, Wisconsin
1994 – Jason Miska, LB, Auburn
1993 – Chris Zingo, LB, Cornell
1992 – Curtis Eller, LB, Villanova
1991 – Corey Vincent, DL, Holy Cross
1990 – Rob Thomson, DB, Syracuse
1989 – Terry Wooden, LB, Syracuse
1988 – Glenn Antrum, WR, Connecticut
1987 – Bill Romanowski, LB, Boston College
1986 – Richard Comizio, RB, Pennsylvania
1985 – Tom Patton, DE, Holy Cross
1984 – No recipient
1983 – Steve Young, QB, Brigham Young
1982 – Mike Marshall, DB, Southern Conn.
1981 – Richard Diana, RB, Yale
