No one will ever need to remind Scooby Wright to work harder or give that little bit of extra effort.
By now it’s well-chronicled “Two-Star Scoob” as his twitter handle still reads has always earned every bit of his success. Despite being a two-sport star in football and track at Cardinal Newman High School in northern California, Phillip “Scooby” Wright arrived at the University of Arizona as a relative unknown after being first spotted by then-Arizona assistant Tony Gibson.
The linebacker left after just three seasons as one of the greatest defensive players in program history.
Since his jaw-dropping 15-tackle, two-sack performance in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, Wright’s quest for respect turned to NFL coaches and personnel who have poked, questioned, observed and clocked his every move leading up to this month’s draft.
For Wright, the mission and mindset never changes.
“That chip [on my shoulder] never wavered or went away,” Wright, projected anywhere from a second to fourth-round pick, told Sports360AZ.com in a recent phone interview. “I’m not an underwear Olympian, I’m a football player.”
Deemed by some analysts as a little too stiff or a bit too slow few can argue his production, passion and overall “football instincts.”
Some of those attributes have even caught Wright by surprise.
“I realized I was a smart football player but I didn’t realize how smart I was,” Wright explained. “Every team I talked to said, ‘that was some of the best board work I’ve ever seen.'”
Despite missing most of his junior season due to injury (he played in just three games), Wright kept his mind sharp by attending team meetings and even wearing coaches’ headsets on some game days to help call out offensive alignments and plays.
Not bad for a two-star recruit.
