La Habra cornerback Clark Phillips III is fast becoming a favorite of college recruiters

Clark Phillips III improved his time in the 40-yard dash by two tenths of a second at the Opening Los Angeles Regional this month. The La Habra High cornerback still was disappointed after being clocked at 4.52 seconds.

“I definitely got a lot faster since last year,” he said, “but I had a false hope coming in thinking I was going to run a 4.4, 4.3 because you fall in love with the training weeks and months before. You get kind of good at it. I kind of got brought back down to earth today, so I’m glad I’m able to keep on working on it.”

Phillips constantly seeks ways to improve and this minor disappointment was another opportunity for him to continue to get better.

“You can’t ever get too fast,” he said. “All receivers are going to be fast. At the next level, there’s going to be some blazers, so I’ve got to be the fastest thing moving at DB, especially at 5-9 and 1/4th.”

His perceived height disadvantage is just more kindling. Since he can’t train to be taller, if that is supposed to hold him back, he’s determined to be that much better in areas he can improve. He has focused on technique and speed the last two off-seasons and has developed into one of the nation’s top defensive backs. He is the No. 4 cornerback and the No. 48 overall prospect in the 247Sports composite rankings.

Phillips had seven interceptions and 15 pass breakups as a sophomore, including three interception returns for touchdowns against Ontario Colony. Teams chose to try to attack other areas of the Highlanders defense last season, shying away from Phillips. He had two interceptions and 10 breakups as a junior. To make a bigger impact, he also played receiver, leading La Habra with 54 catches for 1,210 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Colleges are always looking to add supreme athletes, especially in the secondary. Phillips fits the bill.

“I think that’s what separates me,” he said. “My versatility and things like that. I can play nickel, slot, safety, boundary corner, outside corner. It doesn’t matter. I really don’t have a set position in the secondary. It’s just I’m a secondary defender and I cover the best guy.”

He released a list of his 12 top colleges this month. Neither UCLA nor USC was included, but Phillips said he was not yet cutting any schools completely out of his recruitment.

Murao plans Southern tour

Santa Ana Mater Dei offensive lineman Myles Murao watched from the sideline as his teammates rolled through the playoffs and won the CIF Open Division title in December. He suffered a season-ending broken leg in the penultimate regular-season game when another player rolled into his leg from behind.

He hopes to be back to full speed early in the summer, but the injury hasn’t slowed Murao’s recruitment. UCLA wanted to make sure that the four-star prospect knew he was on its wish list. The Bruins re-offered him in January after providing him his first scholarship offer in October 2017 prior to Chip Kelly’s hiring. USC and several other Pac-12 schools also are high on Murao.

He’s also been garnering attention from across the nation. Murao recently received offers from Southeastern Conference powers Georgia, Alabama and Auburn.

“It’s crazy to me,” Murao said, “because two years ago I’d never think schools from the South would have any interest.”

Curious to see what those colleges have to offer, Murao is planning a trip to the South to take unofficial visits to as many schools as possible.

Rivals slides the Southland

There are 23 upcoming senior California prospects in Rivals’ top 250 list that was updated this week. Eighteen are from the Southland, more than the totals from 46 states.

The Southland maintained three of the top four spots in the rankings, but only one of the top 250 saw his ranking improve. Calabasas wide receiver Jermaine Burton moved up one spot to No. 57.

Mater Dei’s Darion Green-Warren dropped out of the top 100. The most precipitous drop was Chad Johnson Jr. The four-star wide receiver from Cathedral slid 118 spots to No. 246.