Academics have always played an important role in the life of three-star safety Justin Reid. That’s why the 6-foot-1, 195-pounder from Dutchtown High School in Geismar, La., immediately scheduled an official visit to Notre Dame after landing a scholarship offer from the Irish earlier this month.
Reid, who carries a 4.7 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, sat down with Irish defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder to discuss his options.
“Coach VanGorder actually came in my house in person,” Reid said. “He said he likes to handpick who he offers, especially for the middle linebackers and safeties, that’s why he takes a visit to everybody and he sits down and speaks with them to see how their character is and the way they talk and present themselves before he himself makes the decision to give them a scholarship. Apparently I was the very first person he told me that he offered.”
The offer moved the Irish into Reid’s top five with Oklahoma, LSU, Texas Tech and Stanford.
“I’m excited about it,” he said. “I was so excited about it that within the next week I had my official visit to Notre Dame planned. It’s going to be the weekend of Jan. 23.”
Reid already has visited Oklahoma and Texas Tech and he has visits to Stanford and LSU scheduled for the week before and the week after his South Bend trip.
He’ll make his decision soon after his visit to LSU on Jan. 30.
“The sooner the better,” he said. “I know so much about LSU that it could come any time after the Notre Dame visit. Really, it’s really between Oklahoma, Stanford, Notre dame and LSU and I’m keeping Texas Tech around because I like them so much. I like the coaching staff.”
Most schools are recruiting Reid to play safety although a handful project him at multiple positions.
“With Oklahoma, it’s a hybrid, more safety than a nickelback. At LSU they want me to start off as a nickelback and eventually work my way back to safety. Stanford is a safety purely and Notre Dame is like 85-percent safety and 15-percent nickelback during dime coverage or something and I might move down when they move another safety on the field,” Reid said. “I prefer to move around because you move around and play a bunch of different positions and have a whole bunch of different perspectives. That’s a whole lot of fun and that makes you a more valuable player as a player. The more things you can do and the more places you can play on the field makes you more valuable overall so I want to be able to move around and do a whole bunch of different things.”
As a senior, Reid recorded 88 tackles, including 12 for a loss, picked off four passes and forced a fumble despite having most of the action take place on the opposite side of the field.
“My senior year was really slow. The ball somehow never came my way,” he said. “I think that was on purpose. It started speeding up a lot at the end of the season because I got moved down to a nickel spot so they couldn’t avoid me as much and my season really picked up then.”
Reid takes pride in outworking his opponents and he believes he has the physical and mental makeup to excel in college.
“I’m an extremely physical player,” he said. “I really don’t like to be outworked and I don’t like to be blocked. That’s one of my things. I made a promise to myself. People sometimes get juked and they sometimes get run over but my promise to me is I will never be blocked on a play because I see that as being outworked on a play and I don’t like that.
I’m just a physical player who brings an intellectual side to the game that can get players lined up where they’re supposed to be.”
A turf toe injury will prevent Reid from taking part in any of the post-season all-star games but he will make an appearance at the Under Armour game in Orlando.
During halftime he’ll be honored for being one of five finalists for the 2014 Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Trophy. The award is presented by the National Alliance of African American Athletes to promote academic excellence among young African-American males.
Reid was nominated for the award then had to submit a lengthy application and essay. He was selected as one of five finalists. The award will be presented in Washington D.C. in February.
“I’m excited about it,” Reid said. “It’s a national award for athletes who excel academically and athletically because they’re supposed to be a role model for their community that you can have good grades and still be an extremely good football player at the same time. I had to do like a whole extensive application process and write an essay and I got picked.”
