Transferring schools can bring students new benefits, such as additional academic support. For student-athletes Bryce Phillips and Shea Rubright, transferring to San Diego State University meant progressing in their athletic journeys.
Phillips’s current position is cornerback on the football team. He is a fourth-year African studies student.
Describing himself as a “goofy, hardworking leader,” Phillips is focusing on improving his football skills every day at practice.
“I’m a cornerback who isn’t afraid to hit running backs,” Phillips shared.
He’s ready to graduate and working on getting a master’s in psychology. While working towards his master’s, Phillips wants to play professional football.
Phillips says he transferred to SDSU from Tennessee State University to have a better football experience.
“Football-wise, [Tennessee State] was average. It was hard,” Phillips said. “[SDSU] lets me play on a bigger stage and show off my skills.”
Phillips said he was glad to attend a historically black university before transferring to SDSU.
“I got the best of both worlds,” he shared. “Tennessee State is in Nashville, so I got the college and country experience.”
Comparing his time at both schools, Phillips mentions that his ambitions have always remained the same.
“I’ve always been striving to [play for] the league, and I have picked up better practice habits here,” he comments.
When it comes to classes, Phillips says he’s able to stay on track through constant communication with his professors.
His brother, Clark Phillips, plays as a cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons.
“I definitely look up to him, he’s my big brother,” he said. “I always ask him everything I have questions on regarding school and football.”
Seeing his brother go straight to playing professionally after college serves Phillips as a “blessing and as motivation to work harder every day.”
Shea Rubright is a sixth-year graduate student getting her master’s in education with a concentration in counseling. She currently plays as a middle blocker on the volleyball team.
Both of her parents were student-athletes in college, with her father going on to play professionally for two years after college.
Her siblings are also student-athletes. Her brother plays college basketball, and her sister plays basketball and volleyball at her high school.
Although her mother also played college volleyball, Rubright says she prefers to turn to teammates for advice with balancing school and athletics.
“I think having a good core group of friends and support system is really important. It can be hard to remember that there’s life outside of volleyball, so it’s important to have those people I can turn to and talk to,” she shared.
As a graduate student, Rubright says she did not expect to play this far into her schooling.
She graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor’s in political science. Before transferring to Washington State, Rubright attended the University of Minnesota for three years.
“I wasn’t playing a ton at Minnesota, so I wanted to go somewhere where I was going to be on the court pretty much the entire time,” Rubright shared.
Rubright says she chose SDSU for grad school due to the program’s flexibility.
“I wanted to be able to get my master’s degree in a year while I was also playing volleyball. They have a great online program that allows me to focus on getting my master’s also while focusing on volleyball, which is super important to me,” she said.
Once Rubright graduates, she hopes to play professionally either within the United States or overseas.
Thinking of life without sports, Phillips says he would be in the military if he weren’t playing football. Rubright says she has “no idea” what she’d be doing if volleyball wasn’t in her life.
