Kyle Philips was selected by the Tennesee Titans in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft and knows he has work to do to reach his goals for the 2022 season. The good news is he’s prepared for what’s in store for him thanks to what he learned while playing for the UCLA Bruins. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, Philips explained UCLA head coach Chip Kelly helped him get ready for the NFL.
“I feel the way Coach Kelly runs that program over there, it couldn’t get any better,” the 22-year-old wide receiver exclusively told PopCulture on behalf of Sleep Number. “He runs it like an NFL program. The biggest way, I would say, was just the film study and how our playbook was. Coach Kelly put a lot on our plate, but, it paid out and ended up being great for me, in regards to our offense. Each week, he put in… give us a new packet, that was our offense for the week, so you had to be good at just adjusting on the fly, learning a new playbook. For example, going to the Shrine game, it made picking up that offense really easy for me, and just talking football with other teams, made it feel very fluid and just easy being able to talk football with those guys.”
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It’s no surprise Kelly runs UCLA like an NFL program since he was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers. Kelly coached the Eagles from 2013 to 2015 and then moved on to the 49ers in 2016. He posted a 28-35 record in his four seasons in the NFL and then became the head coach at UCLA in 2018. The Bruins are coming off their best season under Kelly, finishing with an 8-4 record and a 6-3 record in the Pac-12.
In 2021, Philips finished with 59 receptions for 739 yards and 10 touchdowns. He led all Pac-12 receivers with 10 touchdown receptions and ranked No. 2 in the conference in receiving yards per game (67.18). Philips is also a dynamic punt returner, averaging 22.6 yards per punt in 2021. One of his most notable plays came in the game against Colorado as he scored on an 82-yard punt return. Philips will join a Titans receiving group that includes Robert Woods, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and first-round pick Treylon Burks.
