30 Greatest Tigers of the Decade: #5 Josh Reed
by Poseur on Feb 1, 2010 12:00 PM CST
19 comments
When Josh Reed arrived on campus, he was a slightly undersized running back recruit who would do anything to just to see the field. By the end of his junior year, he was the greatest wide receiver in LSU history which is no small feat. Before we go through his history, just look at the records he left school with:
19 receptions vs. Alabama (LSU and SEC single-game record)
293 receiving yards vs. Alabama (LSU and SEC single-game record)
94 receptions (LSU single-season record)
1,740 receiving yards (LSU and SEC single-season record)
145.0 receiving yards per game (LSU and SEC single-season record)
3,001 receiving yards (LSU and SEC career record)
11 100-yard games (LSU single-season record)
18 100-yard games (LSU career record)
14 receptions vs. Illinois (LSU and Sugar Bowl record)
239 receiving yards vs. Illinois (LSU and Sugar Bowl record)
A few of those records have since been broken, but not many. Reed jumped to the NFL after his junior year having completely rewritten the LSU record book. And he is still the most prolific receiver in LSU history, which is stunning seeing as he was a receiver for only two years.
2000, his sophomore year, was Reed's first as a wide receiver. He caught 65 balls for 1,127 yards and 10 TD's. So I guess there wasn't much of an adjustment period. He led the SEC with 102.5 yards per game receiving. He could beat you short or he could beat you long, six of his 10 TD's were over 30 yards. Reed also never lost his running back sensibilities and was a ferocious run blocker on top of being a great receiver. He's also the receiver that made the phrase "bubble screen" make SEC defensive coordinators curl up in the fetal position.
And that was nothing compared to 2001. Josh Reed keyed an explosive offense that brought LSU its first SEC title since 1988 and our rightful place back in the Sugar Bowl. He caught 94 passes (!) for 1,740 yards (first in the country). He led the SEC in more than just receiving yards and catches, but he led the SEC in all-purpose yards with 155.0 per game (145.0 of that average was in receiving yards). His signature game was when he almost single-handedly beat Alabama with NINETEEN catches and 293 yards. The thing is, that game wasn't even an extreme outlier. He went 14-239 against Illinois, 10-186 against Auburn, and 7-183 against Arkansas. In all, he had 18 100-yard games over his career which is just silly.
Reed was the fastest receiver to reach 2,000 yards (20 games) and the first in SEC history to reach 3,000 yards. Heck, he was only the third SEC receiver to have multiple 1,000 yard seasons. He started 2000 with eight straight 100-yard games, a school record, which was snapped against Ole Miss when he merely had 85 yards receiving. No one stopped Josh Reed in his junior year. No one.
After his remarkable Sugar Bowl game, he took his ball and went pro. Reed left as a two-time All-SEC player and the 2001 Biletnikoff winner, LSU's first major award winner since Billy Cannon. Josh Reed is the standard by which all LSU receivers will be forever judged. He wasn't just dominant, he was absurdly dominant.
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Ridiculous numbers
To amass those types of stats in only two years at the position is simply amazing. The most impressive number is 18 of 25…in nearly 2/3rds of his games playing WR he had at least 100 yards receiving. I wonder how many of those were YAC.
Two words: Bubble Screen
Probably all of them.
Fake Pundit. Real Fan.
http://www.andthevalleyshook.com
bama game
i remember convincing several friends who were not SEC or LSU football fans to watch that game w/ me. All they know was that I was a LSU diehard. Josh Reed single handedly gave me buddies to watch every LSU event w/ after that game. He convinced at least 5 of my fair-weather friends to pull for the tigers from there on out.
That was an awesome game.
So the Bama game is only my second favorite Josh Reed "moment"
- is definitely the catch in the back of the endzone in the second half of the GT game in 2000.
What a great catch!
The bend in his body to get his foot in bounds was the sickest sweetest
‘football move’ I have ever seen.
I watched that game with about 20 GTech fans in Atlanta and they all cried and cheered for that play. It was unreal!
And Rohan was just as crazy on that play, I remember him shaking off a couple of GT guys and bending back up from a sure tackle to make that throw.
Most incredible all around ‘athletic’ play ever!
GEAUX TIGERS!!!
Smartest thing Josh Booty ever did
Suggest moving Reed to WR late in the 99 season when the team was disgustingly short-handed at the position.
In late '99, right after making the switch, Reed was battling for playing time
With Craig Nall. As a wide receiver.
by 4.0 Point Stance on Feb 2, 2010 9:40 AM CST up reply actions
Great post
Despite the unrepentant man-crush I’ve always had on Josh Reed, I somehow had short-changed his career stats in my head. Great point, too, about the bubble screens. They ran it so well that it makes we want to give the Clemsons and the West Virginias of the world a hearty “you’re not doing it right” about thirty times a game.
Funny, but true
I think a lot of LSU fans love Reed but silently shortchange his stats as well. We like him for big catches and blocking tough and the position change. He’s kind of remembered as a one-year wonder, not the career LSU receiving leader, and the most prolific WR in SEC history when he left school.
A truly great player.
Fake Pundit. Real Fan.
http://www.andthevalleyshook.com
Always open
I think of Michael Clayton or Dwayne Bowe making those tough catches in traffic more so than Reed — not so much that Reed couldn’t have done it, he just always seemed to have about 5-yards of room around him.
I mean this as a compliment to JR
[H]e just always seemed to have about 5-yards of room around him.
One thing that I’ve noticed as I’ve re-watched (and re-watched, and re-watched) LSU games from Reed’s vintage is how adept he was at pushing off creating space from opposing defenders without doing it so excessively as to draw a pass interference penalty. A good example is (one of?) the touchdown(s) he scored against Auburn in 2001. Even so, surreptitious hand-jostling can’t explain how he indeed “always seemed to have about 5-yards of room around him.” Watching Reed must have been so frustrating for fans of opposing teams because he was so obviously talented and schemed-for and yet always seemed to be all alone (say, around catch #13 or #14 in the ’01 Bama game).
Good receivers get away with that
Just as good defensive backs get away with pushing around receivers and good linemen (off. or def.) get away with grabbing/holding/putting hands where they’re not supposed to be.
Josh Reed makes me cry...
Seeing him on here, makes me happy. An absolute freak. I’m not sure who, or what, could have stopped him that day (or most days, really).
"Hush now, let it go now. I know it's time to go. Time to let this fall from my hands" VNV Nation, "From My Hands"
by Stuck in the Plains on Feb 4, 2010 9:44 AM CST reply actions
Josh Reed made Bama cry...
19 catches against Alabama, he was unstoppable that day, ridiculous numbers. I believe they took his gloves and shoes from the game to be displayed either at LSU or in one of the Halls of Fame (SEC I would guess).
Reed always seemed to have 5 yards of room around him because of his route running and his ability to cut at top speed. Nobody had a chance once he was into his break on a route.
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