Lawrence Phillips was one of those "bad boys" who end up in the CFL from time to time as they try and revive their careers after problems down South of the border.  Phillips played high school football in California and was recruited by the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  Phillips was a backup in his freshman year, but came off the bench in the Orange Bowl to spark a Nebraska win and take over the #1 running back spot.  As a sophmore, Phillips ran for 1704 yards and Nebraska went undefeated on the way to a national championship.  In his junior year, Phillips had his first brush with the law as he was arrested two games into the season for asaulting his former girl friend.  Phillips was suspended and became the focus for national media attention.  Phillips was later reinstated and led #1 Nebraska to a 62-24 Fiesta bowl victory over #2 Florida with 165 yards rushing.  Phillips gave up his final year of college to enter the 1996 NFL draft and was taken sixth overall in the first round by the St. Louis Rams.  Phillips never duplicated his college success in the NFL.  In 1996, Phillips had 632 yards on 193 carries for only a 3.3 yard average.  1997 was similar with  633 yards on 183 carries for a 3.5 yard average.  In November, Phillips got into trouble again, this time missing a team meeting and a practice.  The Rams released Phillips and he finished the season, playing two games with the Miami Dolphins.  Phillips sat out the 1998 season and then attempted a comeback in 1999.  Phillips played well with the Barcelona Dragons of NFL Europe and was given another chance by the San Francisco 49ers in 1999.  Phillips played only 8 games for San Francisco with only 144 yards rushing.  68 of those yards came on one touchdown carry that showed the potential that had made Phillips a first round draft pick.  In that same game, however, Philliips also became infamous for missing a block that took QB Steve Young out of the game and ended his career.  Phillips returned to football in 2001 with the Florida Bobcats of the Arena Football League and then in 2002 signed as a free agent with Montreal.  Despite his somewhat spotty history, Montreal handed PHillips the starting running back job over Mike Pringle who was only the all-time leading rusher in CFL history.  Phillips did have a good season, rushing for over 1000 yards, winning an East All-Star and helping the Als win the Grey Cup in 2002.  Phillips was abruptly released by Montreal during training camp in 2003 for disciplinary reasons, but yet another team was willing to take a chance on him.  The Calgary Stampeders inexplicably dumped Kelvin Anderson who had piled up six straight thousand yard seasons for Phillips.  Almost inevitably, Phillips was released partway through the 2003 season for arguing with head coach Jim Barker.  Out of football, Phillips got into trouble with the law again.  In 2005, he was wanted by the police on two separate charges of domestic violence and then things got even worse.  Phillips was charged with assault with a deadly weapon when he ran his car into a group of teens after a dispute during a pickup football game.  Phillips went to trial and in December, 2009 was given a 31 year sentence.

Lawrence Phillis passed away on January 13, 2016.

Lawrence Phillips in wikipedia

Wikipedia Article on Lawrence Phillips

NFL Stats for Lawrence Phillips