Phil Steele

Copies of Phil Steele's 2010 College Football Preview at Borders in San Francisco, California.

Phil Steele (c. 1960) is an American sportswriter and analyst who focuses exclusively on college and professional football.[1] He is considered a "highly respected prognosticator" within the sports media.[2] His company, Phil Steele Publications, produces the annual preseason magazine Phil Steele's College Football Preview, which he personally writes in almost its entirety.[3] The first edition was published in 1995.[4] In a comparison of the major preseason college football magazines, ESPN writer Pat Forde said:

All the mags have their merits . . . But Phil Steele owns the genre . . . The 46-year-old uses a cookie-cutter layout for every team, and his writing will never be nominated for a Pulitzer. But he does author every two-page team preview himself, and he crams stats, facts and figures into every nook and cranny.[1]

The magazine was similarly praised by the News & Observer and Rivals.com.[5][6] Chris Stassen, owner of football.stassen.com, has tracked the preseason magazines' accuracy since 1993 and rates Phil Steele's as the most accurate in its predictions.[7][8] Phil is currently a full-time employee of ESPN writing articles for ESPN+ and appearing on SportsCenter. He continues to produce the "Bible of College Football" which is the Phil Steele College Football preview that is now in its 25th year.

Steele has been a member of the All-America, John Mackey Award, Davey O'Brien Award, Lombardi Award, and the Ted Hendricks Award voting committees.[9][10]

  1. ^ a b Forde, Pat (July 2, 2007). "Forde: Mags to the max". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  2. ^ Dufresne, Chris (August 6, 2009). "Top contenders according to schedules". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  3. ^ Clay Whittington, Phil Steele magazine benefits football fans[permanent dead link‍], The Daily Texan, July 27, 2007.
  4. ^ Kelley, Kevin (August 31, 2009). "Phil Steele's 2009 College Football Strength of Schedule Rankings". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  5. ^ J.P. Giglio, ACC Now: Phil's forecast: FSU, VT, Pack looking good[permanent dead link‍], News & Observer, July 17, 2007.
  6. ^ Preseason magazine reviews: Phil Steele's 2007 Football Preview, Rivals.com, June 26, 2007.
  7. ^ Alan Dell, Phile Steele: USF is a title contender Archived January 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (PDF), USFBullsEye.com, Rivals.com, 2007.
  8. ^ Preseason Prediction Accuracy (1993-2008), Stassen.com, retrieved August 5, 2009.
  9. ^ Awards, Phil Steele.com, retrieved August 5, 2009.
  10. ^ All-America, Football Writers Association of American, retrieved August 5, 2009.