Phillip Lee is a known pass rusher, but the Razorbacks brought him in to be a complete defensive lineman and he is starting to make waves
The Arkansas Razorbacks knew that defensive lineman Phillip Lee was a proven pass rusher when they nabbed him out of the transfer portal from Troy last offseason, but they needed a complete player and Lee made those strides in fall camp.
“Philip Lee has come on and we need him to,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said on Saturday following Arkansas’ second and final scrimmage of 2025 fall camp. “I’m excited to see him out there at that buck and defensive end position.”
The 6 foot 4, 240-pound Jacksonville, Florida, native spent the last three seasons with the Trojans and compiled his best performance last fall, logging 32 tackles, 16 of them solo and 11 for loss with five sacks, plus forced a fumble and broke up a pass in 12 games.
Phillip Lee answering the call
Excluding fifth-year senior Cam Ball in the middle at tackle, the defensive line is one of the top question marks on the squad after losing top players such as Landon Jackson and Eric Gregory.
North Little Rock native Quincy Rhodes Jr. and Justus Boone have been getting a lot of praise at the end spots, but Lee has also been expecting to contribute and his recent play has propelled him to be in the mix.
“We got him to rush the passer and he can rush the passer,” Pittman said. “He’s been making more plays against the run and developing there and doing a good job of getting in the edge and turning it.
“More importantly, he’s made a lot of plays either running plays down from behind, setting the edge as a buck or a defensive end. So he’s playing bigger than what he is physically, and so we’ve learned that he’s more of an every down player than just third down.”
Making a positive impression on veteran teammates
Arkansas senior left guard Fernando Carmona Jr. said the offense had a “great day” but did get off to an unusual start.
“We didn’t start off with a first down and didn’t start off hot, which was weird,” Carmona said. “We had really good energy throughout the warm up. And like I said, all fall camp during those first few periods we’ve been on fire, so just kind of got to go back on tape. Maybe we missed one block or something, but nothing too concerning.”
Part of that slow start was due to the disruption cause by Lee and the d-line and there have been plenty of competition in the trenches.
“All fall he’s just been slowly climbing and climbing,” Carmona said of Lee’s progression. “He just kind of worked his way up to the 1s. And he’s been just putting it in day by day, putting in that work, and just getting a lot better.
“Really good pass rusher, but then even showing up in the run game, he’s really came along a long way, and just seeing that day by day progress has been really cool. He works really hard, and he’s gonna be a really big help for us this year.”
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