University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: J.R. Reed
November 06, 2018 | Football, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
J.R. Reed has started 24 straight games in the Georgia football secondary. That's not bad for a guy that began his collegiate career as a backup at Tulsa, before transferring to Georgia after his freshman season.
The 6-foot-1, 194-pound Reed, from Frisco, Texas, worked his tail off while redshirting in 2016, earning a starting job before last season on one of the best defenses in Bulldog history. The son of longtime NFL receiver Jake Reed, J.R. Reed has 41 tackles this season heading into Saturday's big game against Auburn.
During a Quick Chat before practice Monday, Reed talked about his days as a receiver in high school, Halloween, playing other sports, running against his speedy sister and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: I was looking at your bio and saw that you played receiver and defensive back in high school, so how would J.R. the DB cover J.R. the wideout? Who would win that head-to-head?
Reed: Probably the DB. I was a pretty good receiver, I wouldn't say I was, like, amazing, but defense was my specialty ever since I was younger. My dad told me, you're going to be a defensive player, not an offensive player.
Frierson: Because?
Reed: Just because of my ability to run to the ball; when I was little I'd never get tired. When I was playing soccer I'd tell the coach, I'm not tired, don't take me out. And so when it came to football they'd put me in the middle, playing safety, and I'd just fly to the ball.
As I got older I started falling more in love with defense because it's all about the effort you give to the ball. The ball can be way over there and you can be on the left side and you can run all the way over there and make a tackle. It's all about the effort you give.
On offense, it's all about if you're open, you might be open but the quarterback doesn't see you and all this other craziness. I'd rather play defense, so the defensive guy won [my head-to-head].
Frierson: What other sports besides football and soccer did you play growing up and how would you rate your abilities in those sports?
Reed: One through five, five being the best and one being the worst, one on baseball, absolutely the worst. When I was little, playing third base, the ball would be hit, say, to second base — this is tee-ball and I'm young — I'd run over to grab the ball from second base and run over to tag the runner at third. I was awful at it because I couldn't just sit there and wait for the ball to come to me, I was just too bored.
Soccer, I would give myself a four. I was a pretty good defender in soccer, and defense is my thing. I could steal the ball and get rid of it and chase down offensive players. I could play pretty good defense in soccer.
Football, definitely a five. Swimming, I was a good swimmer. I didn't do it as a sport but I'd say a three. And then any recreation, gym sports, sports you play in gym [class] like kickball and dodgeball, that's a five.
Frierson: Do you miss having the opportunity to show off your kickball or dodgeball skills?
Reed: I miss the opportunity to play dodgeball — that's one of my favorites. That and kickball. Those two sports are so simple and take you back, I could play them whenever.
Frierson: The last time we did this (http://www.gado.gs/oz), before Christmas, you talked about how your house was always decked out for the holidays. Did the Reed house get the same treatment at Halloween?
Reed: It wasn't really a Halloween house. We got to get dressed up as whoever we wanted to be and we had our candies, but it wasn't really a Halloween decked-out house. We'd have maybe the fake spider webs and the fog machine, but we didn't have anything too scary.
Frierson: Is there a candy that you like at Halloween that you ignore the rest of the year? I'm that way with candy corn, which is probably a good thing.
Reed: I'm just a Skittles guy, no matter what day, year, time, it's Skittles.
Frierson: What's the most important class you've taken in college? Or the one that has affected you or interested you the most?
Reed: Interpersonal communications — I took that and it shows you how humans work and human nature and how we communicate and different levels and stages of relationships. And if you hit this phase you might as well just quit your relationship because it's going to go downhill from there, there's not coming back. That class was just very interesting to me.
Frierson: Your sister Jaevin is a sprinter on the track team at Texas A&M, which means she's really fast. Do you ever train together and do you ever compete against each other?
Reed: We used to train together back in high school but we never ran against each other before. That was always fun, just to see her run because she's a very good runner and to see how strong she is running and to see someone else be passionate about a sport is very nice to see. ... She's doing it because she loves track, loves to run and that's her passion.
It's always interesting to watch runners that are passionate about running because their practices are so much harder than their meets. Our practices can be kind of fun because we go against each other and it's a little competition; their practices are just them running against themselves.
Frierson: Would it be good to run against her or would be you worried about getting beat by your little sister?
Reed: I can't beat her now. Anything over 100 yards, I can't beat her in. I can probably beat her in a straight 100, but 200, 400, I don't have the wind, stamina, I couldn't beat her in any of those and I'd probably pull a muscle trying to run that fast.
Frierson: I admire your humility in saying that. A lot of guys, the ego would get in the way of that.
Reed: My ego definitely won't get in the way because I'm starting to think about just running the 400 and the 200.
Frierson: And she's a stud in the 400, right?
Reed: Yes, she's a stud in the 400, and that used to be my thing, too. I'm just thinking about running that and I've never been that tired and had my body in that type of pain before.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
