Stanford’s Phillips a top candidate for Pac-12 Defensive Player of Year

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Temperatures are expected to be in the 30s with snow or freezing showers Saturday afternoon for Stanford’s game at Washington State. And the Cardinal’s top defensive player admits he’s “a baby” in cold weather.

Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips’ team at Millard West High School in Omaha played some playoff games in bitter cold and snowy weather. In practice, he said, he used to bundle up with extra sweatshirts.

Don’t be alarmed, Stanford fans. He may not like the cold, but he isn’t nicknamed “Horrible Harry” for nothing.

The 6-foot-4, 295-pound redshirt junior is one of the leading candidates for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. In fact, his main competition may be Washington State lineman Hercules Mata’afa, who has 13 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.

“He’s a smaller lineman, but he uses that speed and initial burst off the line of scrimmage to be as disruptive as he can,” Phillips said of the 6-2, 252-pound Mata’afa. “I’m excited to see how our offensive line can handle him.”

Phillips leads the Cardinal in tackles with 61, tackles for loss (7.5), sacks (four) and quarterback hurries (five). In their most recent game, at Oregon State, he saved Stanford’s bacon by forcing and recovering a fumble in the closing minutes, allowing the Cardinal to wrest a 15-14 win out of what looked like a sure defeat.

In a September game against UCLA, he also came up with a game-changing play. He blocked a chip-shot field-goal attempt in the second quarter, and Stanford rode the momentum of that play to score the next 17 points and go on to a 58-34 win. The Cardinal haven’t lost since.

Buoyed by the UCLA win, “we realized we still are the top dog and the Pac-12 title game is still ours to go get,” he said. “We got that hunger back again, and it hasn’t left.”

Harrison Phillips leads Stanford in tackles and sacks, including this one of Oregon’s Taylor Alie on Oct. 14. Harrison Phillips leads Stanford in tackles and sacks, including this one of Oregon’s Taylor Alie on Oct. 14. Photo: D. Ross Cameron, Associated Press Photo: D. Ross Cameron, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Stanford’s Phillips a top candidate for Pac-12 Defensive Player of Year 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Opponents frequently double-team Phillips. Sometimes they resort to other means. He estimates he’s been held or given some other illegal treatment on a quarter of the snaps in a game. Of course, many defensive linemen probably would say the same thing.

A two-time Nebraska state wrestling champion in high school, he has said the experience greatly influenced his success in football. Stanford head coach David Shaw agrees the sport emphasizes physical and mental sharpness.

“There’s a grit to wrestling that’s inescapable,” he said. “You can’t be a good wrestler if you don’t have it because it’s just you (competing). There’s no relaxing in a wrestling match.”

Stanford’s defense will have its work cut out for it in the Palouse, even though the Cougars, once ranked No. 8 in the country, have lost two of their past three games, including a 37-3 loss to Cal.

The Cardinal defense won’t have starting cornerback Alijah Holder, out for the season because of an apparent knee injury suffered against Oregon State. “That’s a huge hit,” Phillips said. He called Holder a potential first-round NFL draft pick and “our security blanket” for his proclivity for big plays.

Phillips has had a major impact at Stanford on and off the field. Besides getting ready to graduate with a double major in sociology and science, technology and society, he’s involved in a wide range of community service projects.

In an autobiographical piece he wrote for the school’s athletic website, he said, “With the platform I have as a Stanford football player, there are endless possibilities in the lives I can touch, and that’s what I really want to do, to bring joy to people’s lives who may be struggling or need somebody to lean on.”

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald