Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips, on his rookie protege: ‘He's a baller'
MIAMI GARDENS — Mitchell Agude has been following in Jaelan Phillips’ footsteps for years, first by attending UCLA, then by transferring to the University of Miami, and most recently by joining the Dolphins as a linebacker.
It’s the next element of his journey that will be most intriguing when training camp opens.
Just how much of Jaelan Phillips’ game does Mitchell Agude have in him?
That’s a question the Dolphins may be wondering after seeing Agude stand out through rookie camp, OTAs and now mandatory minicamp. Although Phillips was a first-round draft pick, Agude was an undrafted free agent who has consistently made his presence known by pressuring the quarterback, if not recording what would be sacks (quarterbacks wear red, non-contact jerseys, so it’s a judgment call).
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While it would be premature to jump to conclusions that Agude will make an impact — or even make the roster — enough potential has flashed to whet the appetite to discover his ceiling.
And you can count his mentor among the interested observers.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Phillips said of how similar their paths have been.
When Agude met with reporters two weeks ago, he said he’d been picking Phillips’ brain for all the advice he can get. Phillips can confirm this.
“He’s really cool because he’s very receptive to coaching and to advice from me,” Phillips said Tuesday. “He comes out to me all the time: ‘Jaelan, what were you doing your rookie year? What type of things can I do to work on my method and things like that?’
“I really appreciate that from him and I can see it on the field.”
Agude isn’t too proud to copy Phillips’ blueprint to the max.
“Just make sure everything he’s doing, I’m doing, times two,” Agude said. “Just to make sure I’m on his level, trying to be one of the greats.”
Besides their stops in Los Angeles, Coral Gables and now Miami Gardens, the two players share a thread in their past that they wish they didn’t. For Agude, it occurred when he was 9. He suffered severe brain trauma in a skateboard incident. Phillips’ concussions were such that he temporarily “retired” from the sport at UCLA. Both say they’re healthy today.
It turns out Phillips played a role in Agude becoming a Hurricane.
“While he was recruiting recruited to Miami, I kind of talked to him and told him about my journey and kind of the blueprint that I found,” Phillips said. “And he really kind of like felt that locked in with it. So when he got to the Dolphins I was like, ‘Man, it's like a prophecy at this point.' So it's been really cool, just kind of being a mentor to him.”
So Phillips lit up when Agude’s name was mentioned in his session with reporters.
“You know what’s on the table,” Phillips said. “It’s what you’ve been seeing, man. He’s a baller.”
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com and followed on Twitter @gunnerhal.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins LB Jaelan Phillips happy with progress of his rookie protege
