“There He Goes Again” – Joe Reed Continues To Shine With Virginia

Bronco Mendenhall calls it a risk. Hasise Dubois feels like screaming. Bryce Perkins is surprised. That’s the Joe Reed effect.

Reed, after all, has become one of the nation’s most dangerous kick returners during his career. So when opponents choose to kick the ball his way, it draws attention. The Cavalier senior is a real and immediate threat to score on any kickoff, something he showed again Saturday against Duke. The Blue Devils kicked his way twice and he produced 138 yards of returns, including a 95-yard touchdown.

“I could see it and I saw him get around the outside dude,” UVA linebacker Charles Snowden said. “I was like ‘Oh Lord, there he goes again.’ So I had to turn to the screen and I just saw him flying, cut back, and score.”

That reaction isn’t unique. As a return starts to open up at home games, you can hear the crowd’s anticipation rise. On the sidelines, players are in the same boat.

“He’s definitely a great player and he’s the money man,” Cavalier quarterback Bryce Perkins said. “Every time he touches the rock, we’re on the sidelines like ‘Oh, he’s gone.’”

As with most things in Mendenhall’s Virginia program, that reputation is well earned.

Reed’s latest return touchdown pushed his career total to five and he’s now tied for No. 9 in Football Bowl Subdivision history and No. 3 in ACC history. Reed long ago became the program’s all-time leader in kick returns. He entered the season with the record of 2,246 yards and that number is growing. He’s tacked on 591 yards already this season. The receiver now has 2,837 kick return yards in his career while averaging 29.2 yards per return. He’s the only player in FBS history to have that many total yards with a return of average of 28+ yards.

All five is return touchdowns have covered at least 90 yards so there’s no cheapies in there: 100 yards against William & Mary, 98 vs. Navy, 95 vs. Duke, 92 vs. Georgia Tech, and 90 vs. Liberty.

“Every time they kick the ball and it’s not out of the end zone, I just scream out ‘Why are you kicking it to him?!’ Virginia wide receiver Hasise Dubois said. “Because, I mean, the guy averages at least 40 yards a return. The return earlier in the game, he nearly took that back. So I was just like ‘Why are you kicking it to him?’”

Here are all five returns in chronological order:

It’s no wonder Dubois and others have the reaction they do when Reed receives a kickoff. The proof’s in the proverbial pudding. But what makes him so good at it?

Mendenhall noted, in part, that Reed has excellent vision. That part of the equation comes naturally, Reed said.

“Yeah, I’ve always had that,” Reed said. “It’s just God given. Sometimes I do stuff, until I go back and look at it, I didn’t even know I did it. I guess that would be good vision.”

Perkins joked that Reed’s strength is one of the main ingredients. Reed is a powerful runner and decisive when it comes to hitting openings.

“Joe’s got bigger thighs than me so all those little leg tackles, he just breaks out of them,” Perkins said grinning. “He runs the rock crazy, just ferocious and just mean. He’s a mean runner. I tried to take a couple of hints. He hit a one-two and burst to the sideline. I wrote that down.”

Mendenhall paused to try to find the right words after Saturday’s game, but added that the team is to the point of expecting – not just hoping for – a big return any time Reed gets a crack at it.

“I’m not sure I can answer that,” Mendenhall said. “He just, he has amazing vision. He’s an excellent athlete. Feel usually comes through repetition and understanding and ability and we train that particular group really hard. For whatever reasons, those things have all contributed to if you choose to kick to him, then there is risk. [Against Duke] on two kicks, not just on the touchdown but the one earlier, man did that set the tone. Our team actually expects it. They’re surprised when he gets tackled anywhere close to the 50. They actually expect it. It’s an amazing thing. They are actually surprised if he doesn’t cross the 50. That’s a pretty powerful compliment from his peers.”

Reed, on the other hand, had no trouble figuring out what makes him successful. Blocking.

That’s why he picked up the phone to text his teammates when CBS Sports released its 2019 Midseason All-America Team last week. Reed earned a spot on that list at kick returner.

“The blocking is awesome,” Reed said. “When you have guys that actually want to be out there – not too many people want to block on special teams or run down on special teams, but we’re fortunate enough to have guys on this team who genuinely want to be out there blocking for me. I tell them every day, like if I get awards or the statistics come out, I always text them like ‘Look what we did.’ I never say ‘Look what I did.’ Like last week, I told them we have 11 All-Americans on our team when the All-American thing came out. I told them we’re all All-Americans. This is the best blocking I’ve had.”

That’s something that certainly could be seen on the 95-yard touchdown return against Duke on Saturday. The play unfolded in an almost identical pattern to the 100-yard return against William & Mary from earlier this season. Reed caught the kick on the right side of the field, crossed the field toward the home sidelines, and then headed for the hill.

The difference? Against the Tribe, UVA spotted a potential opening to hit the wide side of the return defense and set up the blocking to try exploit it. Against the Blue Devils, the design of the touchdown return didn’t plan to send Reed that way. It just happened.

The return unit is adapting on the move to be able to take advantage of potential openings. Then, the blockers are making the effort to get to defenders. Fellow receiver Terrell Jana made early blocks on the return against Duke and then sprinted ahead of Reed to provide room for that one last cutback lane that got him to the end zone.

“It wasn’t really drawn up like that,” Reed said. “That wasn’t what we had planned, it just kind of happened. We have a return team that’s good enough to do that.”

Against Duke, thanks to the big return day and 45 receiving yards, Reed became the ninth Cavalier in program history to surpass 4,000 career all-purpose yards as well. The others on that list are well-known names in Hoo circles: Frank Quayle, Alvin Pearman, Tiki Barber, Thomas Jones, Terry Kirby, Wali Lundy, Taquan Mizzell, and Olamide Zaccheaus. Of that group, only Quayle surpassed 1,000 return yards (Quayle by the way put up four digits in three categories – 2,695 rushing yards, 1,145 receiving yards, and 1,091 kick return yards).

The combination of skills has landed him not only on watch lists for honors like the Paul Hornung Award, given to the most versatile player in major college football each year, but on NFL scouts’ radars as well. Reed checks off a lot of boxes at 6’1” and 215 pounds with strength, speed, and versatility that could make him valuable as a multi-purpose player in the pros.

That might be anything from kick returner to receiver or even running back. UVA has lined him up in the backfield on occasion this season.

“Joe Reed’s knowledge of the game and what the NFL personnel will call football IQ is just growing by leaps and bounds. He’s in extra frequently during the week continuing to learn the game,” Mendenhall said. “There are many of the player personnel people that come in from the NFL that think he is a running back. And so when you watch him as a kick returner, it’s not hard to see why you would think that. When you look at the yards after the catch or once he catches it, it’s not hard to see that. And so we work hard and diligently, not perfectly, at having the right players on the field for the right play at the right time and when Joe was one of the best players at about every position you just try to choose what impact he could have on every play. But certainly he can play that spot.”