Kansas defensive end Lonnie Phelps Jr.’s mid-game motivations from his dad date back years

LAWRENCE — You’ve heard about him by now, if you hadn’t heard about him already.

Lonnie Phelps Jr., a redshirt junior defensive end, was named the Big 12 Conference’s defensive player of the week after recording seven tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks this past Friday against Tennessee Tech. In doing so, he became the first Kansas football player to earn the honor since 2018. There wasn’t a defensive end in the country, according to Pro Football Focus, who graded out better than him during week one of the college football season.

And you’ve probably heard about the exchange Phelps Jr. had during the game with his father, Lonnie Phelps Sr., too.

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Phelps Jr. said postgame Friday it was about the second quarter. Phelps Sr. would say Sunday that it was around the second quarter. The message his father came down near the bench to deliver, according to Phelps Jr., was that he wasn’t doing enough.

“He was dead serious,” explained Phelps Jr., who wouldn’t register his first sack until less than four minutes remained in the second quarter.

“OK, yes sir,” Phelps Jr. said he replied.

But this desire to motivate, which Phelps Sr. described as a look as if to say, “Time to put a pep in your step” and “open the game up,” didn’t just pop up a handful of days ago during that Jayhawks victory. It dates back years to when Phelps Jr. was in high school at Mt. Healthy in Cincinnati. Because Phelps Sr. believes his son has the ability to be the best, and Phelps Jr. values the standard that comes with.

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Providing another viewpoint

Phelps Sr. thinks some of his son’s high school coaches may have been a little jealous or a little agitated by it, but from his spot in the crowd he felt he’d just notice things they weren’t. So, he’d do what he could to feed the information back to his son. And then he’d just give his son a look to let Phelps Jr. know it’s time to hit another gear.

No, Phelps Sr. didn’t have a history of playing defensive end to pull from. But when his son came to him one time asking about how to handle a double-team, he’d just tell Phelps Jr. to beat them any way possible. Whether that’s going around, over, under or through them, and even tackling both the quarterback and the running back together if there’s a fake handoff, once Phelps Jr. instilled that mindset Phelps Sr. said his son garnered the necessary confidence.

“They played a prep school from Canada, and they (were) losing and it was going into the second half,” said Phelps Sr., recalling a 2016 game Mt. Healthy played his son’s sophomore year there. “And I told him if he was going to be a football player, today was the day to make a statement. And he looked at me. He said, ‘Daddy, I know. I got it. We’re not going to lose this game.’ And he ended up with like three sacks in that game, and turned the whole game around and won it. And from there, he just became a whole different monster.”

Phelps Jr. would go on to become a 247Sports Composite three-star prospect in the 2019 recruiting class. He was the 87th-ranked weak-side defensive end recruit in the nation. But his father viewed him highly then, and still does now.

Phelps Sr. laughed Sunday as he explained this, but describing his son as the best defensive end in college football on his Twitter profile isn’t new. He said when his son was at Miami (Ohio), where Phelps Jr. was before transferring to Kansas ahead of the 2022 season, that was there as well. Phelps Sr. even had something similar when his son was in high school, and then just ended up adjusting it.

It’s about manifesting that belief out into the world. Phelps Sr. thinks some of why Phelps Jr. doesn’t receive the recognition he should has to do with his height. Phelps Sr. thinks if his son was 6-foot-5 instead of 6-foot-3, things would be different.

“He’s always been one of the better defensive ends, since he’d been in high school,” Phelps Sr. said. “… It wouldn’t be a question about him being the best defensive end if he wasn’t 6-foot-3. If he was 6-foot-5, 265, 275 pounds, everybody would then notice that he was one of the best defensive ends in college football and in high school at that time.”

All Phelps Jr. has played, from pee-wee football until now, his father added, is defensive end. Nothing else. So, the progression has been about building size and then adding technique to the raw talent that was already there.

Phelps Jr. already had the work ethic. During Phelps Jr.’s high school career, Phelps Sr. remembers him waking up before the sunrise to go for a run and come back to do push-ups and sit-ups with a 50-pound weight vest on — in addition to never wanting to miss practice. Going into his senior year, Phelps Sr. said Phelps Jr. began to work with a trainer on hand techniques and footwork that would then be fine-tuned at Miami (Ohio).

And during Phelps Jr.’s time at his previous collegiate stop, Phelps Sr. continued to provide advice. Phelps Sr. doesn’t want Phelps Jr. to ignore coaching, but at times just go with his instincts. If it works, it works.

Transferring that hard work to Lawrence

Maybe people noticed and maybe they didn’t. Phelps Jr. actually played against Tennessee Tech back in 2019 while he was with Miami (Ohio) and finished with four tackles in a 48-17 win. And it’s that memory, Phelps Sr. said, that played into why he tried to motivate his son during Kansas’ game against Tennessee Tech earlier this month.

Overall, after analyzing the Jayhawks’ 2022 schedule together, Phelps Sr. said he told Phelps Jr. the first three games are an opportunity to make a statement. The first would be a chance to produce more than Phelps Jr. was able to against Tennessee Tech a few years ago, because Phelps Jr. would conceivably play more snaps. So when Phelps Sr. thought his son started off slow this past Friday, whether by the rhythm of the game or otherwise, he let his son know.

Postgame, Phelps Jr. attributed his dominance to his fellow defensive linemen doing their jobs. He said one area he could improve was paying more attention to some of the calls, because at times he was too excited to play he didn’t get them fully. That he did so well, en route to the most sacks by a Kansas player since 2016 and most tackles for loss by one since 2017, didn’t surprise him because that’s what he practiced for.

“That’s just my confidence, anyways,” said Phelps Jr., speaking to his sack total specifically. “Like, me, I manifest it and do it in my head, what I’m going to do in the game while I’m at practice and while I’m watching film. I just set a goal for myself and I try to reach it.”

Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold praised Phelps Jr. as well and said he showed out in the way the team needed. Leipold added Phelps Jr. showed the same things he does in practice, such as being quick off the ball and having a relentless motor. And Leipold alluded to Phelps Jr., who enjoyed showing he can stop the run as well, potentially having a tougher time against future opponents because he just showcased his ability on film.

Phelps Sr. anticipates Kansas’ next opponent, West Virginia, trying to double team his son some. Maybe they’ll look to chip him a bit as well this upcoming Saturday. But if the Mountaineers’ coaches think because Phelps Jr. came from a Mid-American Conference school they can just go one-on-one all night with him, Phelps Sr. doesn’t see that plan succeeding.

“That’s not going to be the case,” Phelps Sr. said. “It’s going to be a long night if they do.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: DE Lonnie Phelps got inspiration from dad during Kansas' big game