Utah will be without one of its best players, Clark Phillips III, for its Rose Bowl Game with Penn State Jan. 2, Phillips announced via Twitter Monday afternoon.
ROMANS 8:28 pic.twitter.com/myZUx9iKP6
— Clark Phillips lll (@ClarkPhillips21) December 12, 2022
Phillips, a 5-foot-10, 183-pound cornerback, has opted out of the bowl game to focus on the 2023 Draft.
The Jim Thorpe Award finalist was a consensus All-American.
With Phillips opting out, neither Penn State or Utah will be with its most celebrated corner for the Rose Bowl Game. Penn State’s Joey Porter Jr. announced that he had opted out and declared for the Draft days before the team’s bowl game was announced. Porter is the only Penn State player to opt out to this point. Utah’s leading receiver and fellow All-American, tight end Dalton Kincaid, announced that he had declared for the Draft Sunday and won’t be playing in the Rose Bowl due to injury.
Hours after the Penn State-Utah Rose Bowl matchup was announced, both coaches; Penn State’s James Franklin and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, said they didn’t expect their teams to be greatly affected by opt outs. Franklin said he expects “almost the entirety” of Penn State’s roster be available for the game.
Whittingham pointed out that Utah had no opt outs in its Rose Bowl Game against Ohio State at the end of last season.
“Everybody played,” Whittingham told reporters at a joint pre-Rose Bowl press conference that also featured Franklin. “Fully expecting that to happen this year. Doesn’t mean it necessarily will, but I’ve heard nothing of the sort to think any differently.”
