Penn State football: John Reid’s modified approach is paying off
Penn State football cornerback John Reid has personally asked for stricter coaching this year, and so far his approach is working.
Suffering a major injury can be mentally draining for specific players. Some never fully recover from their setbacks, whether it’s mental or physical. Others, they rise above it and use the lost time as extra motivation to want to make a comeback and be great.
Penn State football cornerback John Reid went with the latter after suffering a major injury, which put his 2017 effort on hold. By now, Reid would’ve already been out of Happy Valley and attempting to follow his dreams at becoming a professional football player.
However, because of his injury, Reid was granted an extra year to play for the Nittany Lions. As he already has three seasons under his belt, Reid has a decent amount of experience in the NCAA. But that experience that he has just wasn’t enough in his own mind.
John Reid wants to be better than how he was in the previous three years that he played. Therefore, he has been taking a different approach to the game in his final year with a little bit of help from his coach, Terry Smith. And so far, the modified method has been working.
Diving into John Reid’s preparation
Typically, players don’t enjoy getting ripped on. As coaches never seem to hold back their thoughts on a negative aspect of somebodies game, it can be difficult to hear about their mistakes over and over again. In other words, it can get frustrating and annoying.
To John Reid, though, it’s all a part of the learning process. “Coach me as if you’re coaching somebody who is just coming in here,” Reid tells Coach Smith, according to The Athletic’s Audrey Snyder. “Don’t let me get away with nothing in practice. I’m coming back for a fifth year, and I need to improve. … I knew they were going to do it, but I just wanted to overemphasize it.”
At first, Smith didn’t seem to understand Reid’s request as he might’ve let up a bit on the veteran cornerback when the season began. But Reid made sure he wouldn’t get comfortable. Despite starting the season off hot with an interception against Idaho, Reid reiterated to Coach Smith that he needs to stay on him. While it’s paying off so far, he refuses to get comfortable.
Penn State slightly improves ranking on Top-25 Poll. dark. Next
Nothing changed — and for that, Reid ended up snagging yet another pick during week two. It just so happened to be the first pick-six of his college career, which sparked the Nittany Lions second-half rally against Buffalo this past week. With Reid’s new approach to the game, he’s already tied up his career-high interception numbers for a single season in just two weeks.
With an entire schedule still ahead of him, Reid still has plenty of time to pack on the stats and the accolades. The schedule may get tougher, but so will Smith’s coaching. And as long as Reid takes in all the information coming his way, there shouldn’t be any reason why he can’t continue to play at the high level he’s been performing at.