Don’t let the clothing Tae-kion Reed wears cloud your judgment.
It doesn’t matter if the New Hope High School football standout wears an Ole Miss shirt, like he did Monday prior to getting his team picture taken, or if he decides to show off a Mississippi State shirt today or an Alabama shirt on Wednesday for the first day of school because he plans to keep people guessing about which school he will commit to.
“It’s coming,” Reed said of his decision. “I don’t have a lot of college team shirts. I am going to have to get some more.”
At 6-foot-5 1/2 and 288 pounds, Reed is one of the state’s top recruits at offensive/defensive line. A three-star prospect according to 247Sports, Reed received offers last season from Louisiana-Lafayette, Memphis, and Southern Mississippi. He said Monday he hasn’t committed to a school but that he will make his decision soon because he doesn’t want hos choice to hang over his senior season. He said he wants to stay close to home and that schools in the state of Mississippi are at the top of his list.
“Any schools I choose I probably be in the state of Mississippi,” Reed said. “I will choose a school from outside Mississippi, but it has to be the right fit for me, and it will have to be pretty close to home.”
Last season, New Hope coach Kris Pickle stressed Reed had to “keep his head on the right path and realize what has got him here” if he was going to realize his goal to play college football. Reed said he has done a better job of working hard and staying focused to help him prepare for this season. He said he and his classmates take extra motivation from wanting to help New Hope rebound from a 3-8 season in 2015. The Trojans won 10 games in 2014.
Reed said he “wasn’t a leader of the team” last season and that he was taking on a bigger leadership role as the countdown to the 2016 season continues. New Hope will take on Morton at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12, in the first game of the two-day, seven-game New Hope Jamboree at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium. New Hope will play host to Louisville in its season opener at 7 p.m. Aug. 19.
To be a leader, Reed said he wants to set a better example for his teammates by “not giving up, not quitting when we run sprints, trying to be the first man running, and all of the kind of stuff, doing what the coaches tell us to do even when we don’t want to do it.” Reed said he understands how his body language and his effort in practice and in games affects his teammates. He said he learned that last season because he didn’t feel the Trojans could look to seniors to set that example. He also said he wasn’t prepared to shoulder that responsibility because he “didn’t like being a leader.” Now, though, reed admits there are a lot more things for him to take care of with so many sophomores and juniors looking for guidance.
“I have to stay in shape and get everybody together and tell them we can do things,” Reed said.
While he anticipates playing a bigger leadership role, Reed is preparing for another two-way season. This season, he feels he is in better shape to handle the rigors of playing tackle on both sides of the line. In 2015, he said playing both ways “gave him kind of a run for his money,” but he doesn’t anticipate having a problem doing it this year because he is in shape. The challenge will be maintaining that work ethic because Reed has to set the standard for the younger players. He feels he will be up to the task.
“We’re going to have more younger guys playing on both sides of the ball, so I have to show them I can do it so they can get it in their minds that they can do it,” Reed said.
Reed said he hopes to schedule visits to Ole Miss, MSU, and other schools soon because as fun as it might be to keep people guessing, he wants to complete the recruiting process as quickly as possible.
“I am not going to keep them guessing for too long. I probably will commit somewhere,” Reed said.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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