Safety Reid Commits To JMU
HARRISONBURG – The connection Que Reid said he feels with Bob Trott helped him make the decision to commit to James Madison on Tuesday.
Trott, the lead recruiter on Reid, will be the safety’s position coach and defensive coordinator at JMU when Reid arrives on campus.
“It’s pretty awesome because Coach Trott is from the same hometown as me,” said Reid, who was the South Piedmont Conference Defensive Player of the Year this past fall in his senior season at Robinson High School in Concord, N.C.
Trott is from nearby Kannapolis, N.C.
“It actually started out with Coach Trott coming down to talk with me during the summer,” Reid said. “He was talking with me earlier in the year, and so as the season progressed he started talking with me more. I know he stopped talking with me for a while just because he had to focus on the games, but then he really started recruiting me hard again.
“But, he went to Kannapolis and that’s one of the biggest rivals of my school, so we can joke around and at the same time have that great coach-to-player relationship when it needs to be serious.”
Reid said Trott told him he’d fit well with the Dukes’ defense, which must replace All-American safeties Jordan Brown and Raven Greene, who have departed after graduation.
Reid racked up 108 tackles, a conference-leading seven interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in his last go-around at Robinson.
“I could fill a great spot for them, so I know coming in that [Trott] likes my playing style,” Reid said. “But he likes his defensive backs to know what they’re taught and to keep the other guys on as well. You have to know the defense with him and I think he’s seen that on my film and I think that’s what led him to recruit me.”
Trott and JMU beat out multiple FBS programs to land Reid.
The 6-foot, 195-pound safety was previously committed to Western Kentucky.
Georgia State, Liberty, Elon, North Carolina A&T, Campbell and Wayne State had also offered. Reid said he was still in contact with East Carolina, Nebraska and The Citadel, too.
“It was a hard decision, but looking at it, James Madison has a great academic program and they have the major that I want to look into,” Reid said. “Western Kentucky also had that but it didn’t feel like the right fit for me and at the time, it really felt rushed because I made the commitment too early, so my parents had told me to take my time and look at all the schools.”
Reid said he’s thinking about studying media or communications.
Two weeks ago, he took his official visit to JMU. He said his host, current JMU cornerback Charles Tutt, let him know exactly what the school and program is like from a player’s perspective.
“He said it’s a great experience and that he loves it,” Reid said. “Hopefully when I get there, I’ll be able to learn some things from him and I can progress to become as good as he is.”
Reid said he plans to ink his Letter of Intent next Wednesday on National Signing Day.