It's now 86 days until the kickoff of Catamount football on Saturday, August 31, 2018, against the Mercer Bears, in E.J. Whitmire Stadium, Cullowhee, NC
To help pass those long summer days, and hopefully get the Catamount faithful more excited about the upcoming season, and knowledgeable of the team members, we'll continue the 100-day football countdown each day until kickoff day.
Since no student-athlete is assigned to #86 on the spring roster, today we will highlight another assistant coach
Phillip Ely
Position: Assistant Coach / QB
Alma Mater: University of Toledo
Graduated: 2016
Hometown: Tampa, Fla.
Phillip Ely comes to Cullowhee after two years as the quarterback's coach and a co-offensive coordinator at Tiffin University.
Ely assumes the position vacated by former quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Brad Glenn who took an assistant coaching position with NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision member Georgia State in early February.
“Phil is a very sharp and talented rising star in the coaching profession who has been a winner at every stop of his playing career as both a high school prep and collegiate student-athlete at Alabama and Toledo,” said Speir. “Phil was a part of two outstanding programs that have top-notch head coaches, playing for both Nick Saban at Alabama and Matt Campbell at Toledo. He will bring a new perspective to our talented quarterback corps through the lens of a former player who excelled at the position.
Speir added, “I liked the fact that he has coached on the defensive side of the ball at Iowa State, as well as, been a play-caller at Division II Tiffin which just completed the best record in school history. He has been the part of two programs as an assistant coach that have resurrected programs into national powerhouses at both Iowa State and Tiffin.”
Ely earned his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, first on the defensive side of the ball with the secondary before moving back to offense where he mentored with the Cyclones’ quarterbacks and wide receivers. From there, Ely landed the quarterbacks coach and co-coordinator role at Tiffin University that also included play-calling duties.
In his first season at Tiffin, Ely coordinated a passing attack that featured a freshman QB in Nick Watson who went on to complete nearly 61-percent of his passes for 2,124 yards and 12 touchdowns. Last season, Tiffin averaged 30.4 points and 271.2 yards passing per game, throwing for just shy of 3,000 yards collectively as a team. Watson improved to 65-percent passing with 23 TD strikes against just eight interceptions, collecting All-Great Midwest Conference honors.
Last year, Tiffin opened the year with nine consecutive wins and its highest national ranking at No. 15, but just missed the postseason following a pair of consecutive losses in the final two weeks of the season.
A two-time graduate of the University of Toledo, Ely was a two-year starter on a pair of bowl championship teams in the Rockets’ fast-tempo, spread offense. Twice elected team captain, Ely threw for over 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns against only 10 interceptions in 2015, collecting All-Mid-American Conference honors. He guided the Rockets to an 11-2 record including wins over No. 12 Arkansas and No. 21 Temple, the latter victory coming in the Boca Raton Bowl in which he collected MVP honors. He parlayed that season into an invite to NFL preseason camps with both the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the spring of 2016.
Ely began his collegiate career at the University of Alabama as a highly touted recruit from Plant High in Tampa, Fla., where he played in three state championships, winning a pair of Florida state titles. He was additionally dubbed a U.S. Army All-American as a prep. Ely played in seven games in 2012 for the Crimson Tide while serving as the back-up to A.J. McCarron for two seasons.
Courtesy WCU Athletics Media Relations
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