Penn State linebacker Troy Reeder probably shouldn’t smile so much when he talks about hitting people.
But here he is anyway on a normal Tuesday afternoon sitting in front of the media talking about it. How an unsuspecting kid can hit the field and turn into one of Penn State’s hardest hitters.
“Yeah, I think tackling has been something since I was pretty young that actually didn’t come super natural to me,” Reeder said. “I think growing up I was more of an offensive player until high school. I started off high school as a quarterback, didn’t really have much interest in playing defense. But once I started to see my potential, it’s something that you work on.”
Whatever the case might be, on a Penn State team struggling as of late to finish tackles, it’s Reeder who is leaving little doubt who came barreling down the gap to make the stop. Fourth on the team in tackles, Reeder has 62 stops to his name, very few coming without someone feeling sore after the fact.
That’s even more fun when Reeder knows the big hit is probably coming.
“It’s tough to see really how amazing it is on the fly as fast as it is that the defensive line takes their gaps, whether it’s a stunt or just our base defense, and then you add in pullers and different movements, and it’s like fitting a puzzle, really, and how fast guys have to think and set people up. When you get that back tight in the hole, I think that’s probably the best time that you know you probably have a good chance of getting him.”
Reeder rarely misses out on those chances and the more he talks about it the more he smiles. It’s unsettling, but it’s also hard to argue with one Penn State’s bright spots in an up and down season. Wearing the No. 42 comes with a lot of pressure but it’s safe to assume that even Michael Mauti would approve of Reeder’s hard-hitting ways.
“I would say it’s more of a just mentality and natural instincts that are developed in practice, and then in the games when you’re really able to tee off on somebody, they say aim four feet through the man. So the momentum of your body and whatnot is — if you aim four feet through a guy, you’re going to tear him in half, and that, I think, is the best mentality that I could describe what I think about when I hit people.”
Tear him in half. He smiled while he said that.
That’s not remotely unsettling.
Maybe Reeder has a screw or two loose, but at 6-1 and 241 pounds, who wants to be the one to tell him?
