Jaelan Phillips: “Running through the smoke at Hard Rock was surreal.”

Jaelan Phillips was first to speak to the media on Tuesday, and talked about his first game as a Hurricane.

“Running through the smoke at Hard Rock was surreal,” Phillips said. “It was something that I’ve never experienced.”

In Miami’s 31-14 season opening win against UAB last week, Phillips had 2 tackles and .5 TFL, he also logged 2 pass deflections and 1 quarterback hurry.

“I’m not entirely satisfied with my performance. I think that I have a lot to grow on,” said Phillips.

The new DE duo of Phillips and Quincy Roche were affective against the Blazers on Thursday, as well as the rest of the Canes defense, as they limited UAB to 285 yards of total offense, and just 80 yards of rushing.

Phillips didn’t play in 2019, after transferring from UCLA to Miami.

He also shared his thoughts on their upcoming opponent, Louisville, and their explosive offense.

“Louisville is first and foremost a stretch team, that’s their bread and butter,” said Phillips. “We’re going to have to stop the run because there is no defending the pass if they just run the ball up our gut.”

Louisville won their first game, a 35-21 victory over Western Kentucky. The Cardinals generated 487 of total offense, and Micale Cunningham threw for 343 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Phillips mentioned several players on Louisville’s offense, including Tutu Atwell, Hassan Hall and Javian Hawkins.

Miami travels to Louisville this weekend to take on the Cardinals, 7:30 PM on ABC on Saturday.