Phillip and Justin Joseph have helped bring a name to the Eastern Michigan University wrestling team.
Both brothers have had their fair share of ups and downs throughout their time at Eastern Michigan, but Justin has stuck it out and is about to graduate while younger brother Phillip hopes to carry on the Joseph name for EMU.
The Joseph brothers grew up in Lapeer, Mich., but Justin is originally from Alaska because his father was in the Air Force.
Justin was young when the family moved around and ended up back in Michigan. He took up wrestling at a young age just like his father, who wrestled in high school and played football.
Wrestling has become a family tradition in the Joseph family, such that two more brothers competed in the sport.
“My father introduced it to us in the third grade and we have been doing it ever since,” Justin said.
Both brothers attended Lapeer East High School and wrestled their way to state championships. As a junior, Justin took the Division II state title in the 145-pound weight class and concluded his senior season with a third-place finish in the 152-pound class.
It was the other way around for Phillip, who took the Division II state championship in the 171-pound class when he was a senior.
Justin and Phillip almost went their separate ways when they began their college search. Justin received offers from Duke and The Citadel, along with some other division two and three schools.
Phillip considered Michigan, Michigan State, Cal Poly, Iowa and Oklahoma after he went to the nationals in his senior season. Phillip talked to some other Mid-American Conference schools such as Northern Illinois and Buffalo, but after much consideration, both selected Eastern Michigan.
“[The EMU coaches] were the most consistent and seemed the most interested,” Justin said. “I liked the coaches at the time, and they sold [the program] well.”
“We’re in a building stage, so [the coaches] really sold it to me basically, and I was excited about that more than anything,” Phillip added.
Justin redshirted his freshman year after injuring his elbow in the second tournament of the season, but still competed in open tournaments beforehand.
Phillip started his freshman year finishing fourth in the MAC Championships. He redshirted his sophomore year when he tore his ACL.
Now that Justin is about to graduate, he looks back on his time with Eastern Michigan as ups and downs with some teammates leaving the team. He said out of 20 teammates from his freshman year, only five are seniors now.
“It’s not been easy by any means,” Justin said. “I was here and I stuck it out.”
Phillip also has enjoyed his career so far with EMU.
Like Justin, he saw some rough times and some wrestlers from his class drop out of the program.
“I’ve had my rough times,” Phillip said. “But I say I’m having a very good career here.”
What keeps both of these brothers in wrestling are the motivation and the camaraderie as well as keeping in shape. But for Justin, he enjoys competing with just one opponent.
“There’s no sport like wrestling. There’s just you versus one other person and no one else can do anything about it,” Justin said.
“It’s definitely an emotional roller coaster, you’re either on an emotional high off winning or you get dragged down and burn out. It’s a dynamic sport and I will definitely miss competing in it.”
“It’s a really challenging sport, and you have to be motivated all the time,” Phillip added. “It’s such a long sport… our in-season is six months long. You have to stay focused and it is literally a challenge every single day.”
Justin was one of the first recruits Coach Derek DelPorto recruited when he was hired to work for Eastern Michigan.
“I like being the foundation of changing around the program,” Justin said.
“Eastern Michigan is not known for its wrestling. Within the five years I’ve been here, we’ve gone through a lot of changes, and I like the fact that I’m a part of the culture here.”
“I’ve seen a lot of the changes myself,” Phillip said. “Being part of the team is
like being part of the community. The wrestling team is like a fraternity, and I like that the most.”
Both brothers share interests with being outdoors. Justin bought two kayaks, a motorcycle and a motorboat and enjoys fixing the motorcycle and boat. Phillip enjoys being outdoors, hanging out with friends and traveling.
Justin hopes to get an internship in sports marketing, while Phillip is pursuing a major in business.
