Sports

Overwhelming

The Tampa family of the Eagles' J.R. Reed is happy to stress after all the rookie's success.

By GREG AUMAN
Published January 31, 2005

---

TAMPA - Since her son moved to New Jersey, whenever Dottie Reed visits him, the running joke with his neighbors has been that he'll get a chance to play down in Florida come February.

Down in Florida, as in Jacksonville, as in Super Bowl XXXIX, as in Sunday, when Tampa's J.R. Reed gets to finish a dream season playing in the NFL's biggest game as a rookie defensive back with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The former Hillsborough High and USF standout could be fielding the opening kickoff against the Patriots, but this 22-year-old hasn't let the Super Bowl hysteria get to him.

"I've been playing this game since I was 7," the 5-foot-11, 202-pound Reed said. "Nothing really changes. The people just get bigger and faster."

It doesn't get much bigger than a Super Bowl during your rookie season, and it's daunting enough just to think about from a distance as an NFL rookie's mom.

"It can be a little overwhelming," said Dottie, who will have her other three children cheering with her at Alltel Stadium, along with a few of J.R.'s nephews. "It's just starting to hit me now."

Players get two complimentary tickets, but Reed bought five more and will put his family up in a hotel for the weekend. He has made his family an integral part of his rookie season, bringing them to games whenever their schedules allowed. He sent Dottie, his brother Paul and sisters Andrea and Sunny No.30 replica Eagles jerseys, giving him his own cheering section, equally jubilant whether at Lincoln Financial Field or in a Tampa living room.

"He's very much a family person," said his mother, impressed that on Jan.23, when the Eagles defeated Atlanta in the NFC Championship Game to advance to their first Super Bowl in 24 years, her son was home at 9:30 that night, celebrating with his family.

Win or lose Sunday, Reed has much to celebrate. Consider his past year: getting drafted in the fourth round, graduating from USF with a degree in computer engineering, signing a four-year contract worth $1.38-million in base salary and having the thrill of opening a pack of football cards and finding his inside.

As if his football exploits weren't enough, on New Year's Eve, two days before the Eagles' regular season ended, he proposed to Stacci Sastre, a former USF soccer player whom he met on campus. They haven't set a date, but she'll be there with his family this weekend.

Despite such a year, his family said he hasn't changed.

"He acts the same," Andrea said. "He hasn't let it get to his head. He's the same person. I always tell him "just because you're in the NFL, you're not bigger or older than me.' ... He is bigger, even since college. If you touch him now, he's like a rock."

This first season has brought plenty of ups and downs for Reed and his family, from the uncertainty of preparing for the draft to the joy of having a new favorite team. They've gone from the scare of a hamstring injury that sidelined him two games in November to the thrill of his first NFL start on defense, racking up seven tackles as the Eagles rested their starters in the last game of the regular season.

"It was like college," said Sunny, who has an Eagles logo on her front door and a Christmas card from the team inside. "All you heard was "J.R. Reed.' He was all over the field the whole time."

Reed had the luck to join one of the most talent-rich positions on any team in the NFL. The Eagles put three defensive backs in the Pro Bowl, including two first-year starters. As a result, he's learning from the best, but playing less on defense. He's making up for that on special teams.

As a senior at USF, Reed led the nation in kickoff returns, averaging 31.7 yards. He has that same average on three kickoff returns in the playoffs, the best in the NFL this postseason.

And as a kickoff specialist, Reed knows there's a chance he could be the first player to get his hands on the ball Sunday. He isn't worried about 50-million people watching; he just hopes Philadelphia can improve on its heads-or-tails decisions.

"We're terrible about coin tosses," Reed said. "So I get a lot of second-half kickoffs. But I'm on the kickoff coverage team, so I know I'll be one of the first 22 men on the field, no matter what."

It'll be the first trip to a Super Bowl for everyone in the family except J.R., who was part of the halftime show at Super Bowl XXV in Tampa in 1991.

Two of his nephews, Nathaniel and Tony Solomon, ages 10 and 9, are starting their football careers. Reed, whose father hasn't been a presence in his life since he was 5, has caught some of their games, but he's mentoring them in more important ways, sharing his love of reading and working to help them follow in his footsteps as an honor student who graduated from Hillsborough High with a 4.33 grade-point average.

Hillsborough coach Earl Garcia had six former players on NFL rosters at one point this season, but only one is in the Super Bowl, and Reed still found time to take in a Terriers game during the Eagles' bye week in October.

"The halls are buzzing, and kids who never went to school with him are talking about him," Garcia said. "The faculty's excited, too, because they know he was always such a good student, so we're all proud."

Nathaniel and Tony may be his biggest fans, and when they play video games, they're always the Eagles. They know the games well enough to know that you can see their uncle's dreadlocks coming out of his helmet on ESPN's game, but not on Madden 2005.

When they aren't watching him in person, the family gathers at Dottie's house, or if the game isn't televised, they meet at Bobalouie's on Bearss Avenue in North Tampa. And this weekend, they'll watch him play the biggest game of his career from the stands.

"I'm looking forward to the first kick. All the cameras are flashing, everybody's watching," Reed said. "But I can't wait for the last five seconds to tick off, so I can get my ring."

[Last modified January 31, 2005, 20:08:31]

[an error occurred while processing this directive]