Joe Reed remembers some days back home in Charlotte Court House, Virginia. Lifting hay bales summer after summer. Feeding pigs. Chopping wood.
”There would be wood in the back yard and I never knew it was there and my dad would say go chop that wood by the end of the day and it had to get done,” Reed said.
Those days built character and strength, turning Reed into a 6’3”, 210-pound receiver at Virginia. New coach Bronco Mendenhall espouses a hard work and do hard things together mantra for the Cavaliers. It’s something that Reed quickly understood. The chores back home directly related to that in his mind.
”That stuff is hard too – it’s as hard as football,” said Reed, who also said he had talked with Mendenhall about his ranch work as a kid and now as a coach. ”You have to want to do it. You just can’t go out there and do it halfway or it’s not going to get done like it’s supposed to get done. So I can relate that to football.”
The ingrained work ethic helped him get on the field as a true freshman for the Hoos.
Reed appeared in all 12 games last year and was one of six UVA true freshmen to start at least one game. He tallied 4 receptions for 77 yards, a healthy 19.3 yards per catch in limited duty as a wideout. Reed really made a big impact on special teams, though, a role he said he loves and takes pride in doing. He shined as a kick returner where he brought back 27 kickoffs for 678 yards. That 25.1 yards per return average ranked No. 25 in the nation and No. 3 in the ACC as well as No. 3 among the nation’s true freshmen.
Reed’s return work settled in as the second highest average in the last 10 seasons, trailing on Darius Jennings’ 27.1 average from 2014. Jennings, of course, made it to the NFL.
After an offseason in the strength training program, he’s ready to try to make a bigger contribution in 2017.
”My stamina is off the charts now,” Reed said. ”I feel much faster. My legs feel looser. I feel like I’m just quick.”
Virginia’s quarterback has noticed the blend of strength and speed that Reed brings to the table.
”Kid’s a horse,” Cavalier senior Kurt Benkert said. ”He just looks confident. He’s running fast. Even if he’s not doing exactly the right thing, he’s going full speed and that’s a load to stop. People like him and Jordan Ellis, when they get going full speed they’re not someone I would ever want to tackle.”
While kick returns came more naturally, the work at receiver has been eye-opening for the sophomore. He played the position as part of rotating roles at Randolph-Henry High School where he took snaps at receiver, running back, and safety. He rushed for 2,100 yards and 38 touchdowns as a senior after grabbing 36 receiving touchdowns as a sophomore and junior.
Much of that came from his country strong frame and not the specifics of route running and route options involved in a modern college offense. That’s what he has decided to tackle head on the most this offseason, the mentality and the “smarts for the game” through watching film and “knowing exactly” what he’s going to do on a given play.
He started to gain faith in his ability to do it at his level after an 18-yard catch against Central Michigan, a game where he also posted 88 yards in kick returns.
”I would say my first catch as a freshman was my ‘a ha’ moment,” Reed said. ”I said to myself ‘I can do this.’ All I have to do is just tell myself that I can do it and we came together as a team and there it was.”
”It’s come a long ways for me because this is really my first time playing receiver and everything I’ve learned since I’ve been here just helped me become a better player,” Reed also said. ”I have so much more to learn but a lot of time to do it.”
The Cavaliers believe those glimpses of big play potential last season could grow into more this season. The offense plans to use him more, particularly with senior Keeon Johnson now done with his career. Johnson, who boasts a similar 6’3” and 215-pound frame, emerged in Mendenhall’s first season with 49 catches for 476 yards and 3 touchdowns.
When Reed missed some action this spring nursing a hamstring injury, the offense looked notably different. He returned to the field later in the spring and made several plays in the final week. Mendenhall envisions an offense with Olamide Zaccheaus, Jordan Ellis, Benkert, and Reed along with more depth on the offensive line as potentially potent this fall.
”As soon as he came back, our offensive point production and big plays went up,” Mendenhall said. ”It didn’t take long. It gave us another athletic, explosive player on the perimeter that allowed us to move the ball in bigger chunks and score more points. It happened as soon as he was cleared and came back. It was immediate and ‘oh, Joe’s back.’ He still has a lot to learn because there wasn’t the same volume, but we already saw the ability component a year ago and it will be nice to include him as much as possible.”
