Oregon senior defensive end Nick Reed seemed to come out of nowhere last season as a junior, surprising everyone with a conference-high 12 sacks and 22.5 tackles-for-loss (No. 3 nationally) in his first full year as a starter.
His performance earned him plenty of hype coming into this season, with watch-lists, pre-season All-American teams and dizzying sack projections cluttering the sports media landscape.
But unlike some players who wilt under expectations, Reed has proved the prognosticators were on to something: he is the real deal, and is deserving of every bit of hype out there.
At the halfway point of his final campaign Reed leads the conference again in sacks (eight) and is tied for the top spot in tackles-for-loss (11.5) with teammate Will Tukuafu.
His coaches laud his motor (his ability to play at a high energy level throughout plays and entire games), his work ethic and his heart.
All this said, it seems Reed would be a lock for the next level. Yet most NFL draft projections have him getting picked in the seventh round, if at all. Why? His size.
Nick Reed is a solid three or four inches and 20 pounds smaller than most top-rated defensive end prospects. Reed bristles at the mention of his size, and you see a glimpse of that fire in his eyes that coaches rave about. Defensive line coach Michael Gray remembers being unimpressed by Reed’s physical attributes, until he saw Reed on the practice field.
“Before he got on the field I was saying ‘uh-oh, we’ve got a lot of work,’ because he’s not a physically imposing person,” Gray said of Reed as a freshman. Just a handful of practices later he knew Reed had the chance to be a special player.
“After the first couple of weeks I did, because he worked hard in practice all the time. I didn’t have to yell and chew his ass very much. I didn’t have to motivate him,” he said. “You can’t measure the intangibles, the size of his heart. Nick is one of those guys that kind of break the mold. With his heart, he plays like he’s 6-9, 3,000 pounds.”
That fire, combined with his football intelligence and work ethic, are what will get him a shot at the next level, according to Gray, a former NFL coach.
But his shot at the next level might not come at defensive end. Gray said he sees Reed as a perfect replica of New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who played his college ball for Arizona at defensive end.
“I tell scouts all the time when they come in, ‘Tedy Bruschi, New England Patriots, was just like him at Arizona,’” Gray said. “I grew up watching Tedy and I played in the Pac-10 back then. Tedy was identical. He was a D-end, smallish guy, very bright and played hard. Guess what, sometimes those guys find spots. Tedy was the exact same way.”
And while the pre-draft rankings haven’t been kind to Reed, Gray said once the teams actually sit down and have a closer look at the players on film, Reed’s stock will go up.
“They’re going to look at the film, and the film don’t lie. The film is going to tell you, that kid is a good football player,” he said.
Does Reed spend any energy thinking about of all this? Not much, if at all.
“I’ll think about that when it’s all over,” he said. “I don’t need to, don’t have to, don’t want to until my time here is up.”
Asked if he would switch positions to get a shot at the NFL level, Reed was equally reserved but ultimately willing.
“If somebody will pay me to play a game I would. Beyond that I don’t even think about it,” he said.
In fact, Reed thinks so little about those who would criticize his game based on size alone that he dropped another 15 pounds this summer to slim down to around 240 pounds.
“I was called an undersized lineman last year when I was 255-260 and I was kind of overweight,” Reed said. “I think I’ve been faster, quicker, just healthier and in better shape.”
The entire unit underwent some heavy conditioning this summer and the effects have been tangible, as the defensive line has been a true strength for the Oregon defense. Some would question whether slimming down across the defensive front would affect the run defense, but this season’s unit has held several teams to less-than-average rushing performances, including UCLA to just 63 yards.
For the season, the defensive line has held opposing rushers to an average of 2.7 yards per carry.
“I don’t feel at a loss in the run game at all,” Reed said of his slimmer stature. “Our defensive line has been better against the run than we were last year and we all lost a bunch of weight.”
“The first thing to go for a defensive lineman when he’s not in shape is his energy, he stops running around and stops moving,” Gray said. “We knew we had to come this year and do a little bit more running than we usually do.”
The line’s effort to slim down a bit was led by Reed, as are many aspects of the line’s progress, but Reed is a classic quiet leader who leads by example, not antics.
Reed presents himself as a serious guy. His dealings with the media are constant as one of the team’s captains, but are delivered a in a brief, no-nonsense manner. At times his responses border on terse, but they are always polite. His demeanor on the practice field is similar – he’s not giving speeches or shouting at his teammates, he’s just quietly and very effectively going about his business.
“He’s not going to say much. He leads with how he works,” Gray said. “He wants his snaps. He tells the young guys, ‘Listen, you got to earn the reps, you’re not getting them from me.’”
“I’m not much of a chatter box on the field,” Reed said. “I always kind of laugh at guys who are talking.”
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