Former Reed City All-State running back set for explosive senior season at Albion

ALBION – Phillip Jones-Price has been making some noise in the college football ranks. But the three-time Reed City All-Stater is hoping to make even more noise as a senior. Last season he recorded the longest rushing touchdown in Albion history of 98 yards. He also rushed for a career high of 127 yards on just nine attempts against Defiance. He was named SAAC Student Athlete of the Week. He rushed 125 times for 675 yards last season and caught 10 passes for 66 yards. In 2019, he scored his first touchdown at the collegiate level on a 31-yard run against Defiance. Jones-Price is going into his fourth season at Albion. “The first three years I’ve been doing great,” Jones-Price said. “Going into my freshman year, I was like a little fish in a big pond. It was kind of like finding my way again and getting back up to playing to how I used to playing in high school. Things were on the rise but in my freshman I came down with a shoulder surgery and sat out the first season. “I ended up with surgery at the end of the season. I had to work my way back with shoulder surgery and rehabilitation with physical therapy and stuff. It was good and bad at the same time because when I got surgery it was during the winter (of 2020) and going into the spring, COVID hit. Everything got shut down and I pretty much had to do PT on my own back home with my brother and dad helping me out.” He is the son of former Reed City football and current Belding coach Monty Price and Tara Price and the brother of former Coyote quarterback and current Colgate safety Jackson Price. “Luckily my dad has access to his high school weight room,” Jones-Price said. “I got into the weight room and started lifting to get my strength up for my sophomore season. Going into my sophomore year, I they canceled out the fall season and we wound up playing three games in the spring. We won all three. A lot of teams in our conference didn’t play because of Covid. I started all three of those games. “Going into my junior year, it was a heckuva season. We won our conference again and repeated as back-to-back conference champs. I was a huge part of the whole season and key contributor to our success. It feels pretty good.” Jones-Price was a two-sport student-athlete at Reed City, where he was a three-time All-State and all-Central State Activities Association pick in football and a three-time all-stater and all-conference award winner in track. He graduated with honors and was inducted into the National Honor Society. An exercise science major, he said he chose Albion because of the strong medical program that will set him up for success after college. “Right now, I’m getting bigger,” Jones-Price said. “I weighed in at 150, 160 my freshman year and currently I’m at 195. I’ve been grinding and busting my butt to get to where I want to be going into my senior season and making it everything I want it to be. “I have two years of eligibility left because of my redshirt year an Covid. It’s up for grabs after this last ride my senior year. I don’t know what I want to do. It depends on where the wind blows.” Albion runs the spread offense. “It’s different than the full house we ran at Reed City,” Jones-Price said. “I’ll have more responsibility when it comes to blocking. I do a lot. The team is looking good again. I want to win a conference championship again and go to where we want to go. We had spring ball and we’re looking good. We’re excited for the city and I’m excited.” Dustin Beurer is Albion’s head coach and likes what he sees in Price. “He’s been battling those shoulder injuries,” Beurer said. “He was coming on real strong last year offensively. For him coming out of high school, it was a lot different than he was used to. Once he got going, he started getting into the groove his freshman year and had that shoulder issue. He came back last year and was coming on strong but before our playoff game his shoulder injury reoccurred. “Going into this year he has continued to put on weight. He was 165 coming out of high school and he’s pushing 190 to 195 now. He’s worked hard in the weight room. He’s the type of kid you want in our program. He does everything you ask of him. He’s one of a kind. He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever been around in terms of personality and coachabiity. He’s down on himself, which may be one downfall if I would mention anything. But he’s worked hard to improve any of the deficiencies he may have in his game.”

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