Salesian senior Colby Reeder snags an interception as Smyrna sophomore Will Knight tries to knock it out of his hands.
Salesianum’s Colby Reeder (left) gets his hands on Middletown’s Jalen Whitehead during the Sals’ 20-6 victory on Oct. 9. Reeder finished the season with 56 tackles and six blocked kicks.
What does it feel like to run full speed into a football that has just been kicked?
Colby Reeder knows the feeling. He felt it six times this season.
“It kind of feels like you’re getting shot,” he said. “Because that ball is flying at you at 60 mph. But it always feels better when the crowd is roaring and the adrenaline is pumping.”
The Salesianum senior rushed for 2,010 yards and 32 touchdowns, but that was only half of his contribution to a 10-2 team that reached the DIAA Division I championship game before falling to Smyrna in overtime.
Reeder also made 56 tackles and often changed opposing game plans from his safety spot. He was an easy choice as Delaware’s Defensive Player of the Year in voting by the Delaware Interscholastic Football Coaches Association board and the state’s high school football media.
“Actually, playing running back really helps playing defense,” Reeder said. “I can see the holes developing. I have the running back mindset, so I kind of see where they’re going to be running and I could meet them in the hole.”
And when he met them, they felt it.
“Reeder is so adept at getting to the ball, and getting there violently, and being mad when he gets there,” Smyrna coach Mike Judy said. “He’s very, very good at stripping the ball and just making these instinctual football plays, unlike I’ve ever seen. Unbelievable.”
He came to Salesianum as a 5-foot-8, 150-pound freshman, and left as a 6-foot-4, 225-pound wrecking ball. The transformation was gradual, but Reeder could see and feel the changes through a combination of maturity and old-fashioned hard work.
“It’s a lot different,” he said. “Being 70 pounds heavier than I was as a freshman, now when I hit people they go flying, instead of me taking most of the hit.”
His head coach, Bill DiNardo, could see the annual improvement, too. Fortunately, unlike the opposition, he didn’t have to feel it.
“He was strong last year. He was even stronger this year,” DiNardo said. “I think his strength really made a difference, both offensively and defensively.”
But there is more to football than just being big and strong. The best have a knack for the big play, knowing what their team needs and delivering it. Reeder filled that bill on several occasions this season.
On Oct. 31, Reeder and the Sals traveled to Bill Cole Stadium to face No. 1-ranked William Penn. The defending state champion Colonials were riding a 19-game winning streak, but it came to an end that day.
Reeder rushed 20 times for 173 yards and three touchdowns. But his biggest plays in Salesianum’s 30-13 victory came on defense.
The Sals were leading 7-0 midway through the second quarter when William Penn decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 30. Quarterback D.J. Johnson dove into the pile on a sneak, and Reeder popped out of the scrum with the ball and raced 30 yards the other way for a 14-0 lead.
“Our line did a good job of stuffing him, and we’re taught to just get the ball,” Reeder said. “I was one of the last guys in from safety, and I saw the ball. So I went in there and ripped it out, and no one was in front of me so I just took it to the end zone.”
William Penn’s outside running game devastated Concord the week before, but Reeder went sideline-to-sideline in the secondary and helped the Sals hold the Colonials to just 99 yards on 39 carries.
“It was fun,” Reeder said of playing safety. “You get to fly downhill, hit some people, and you get to cover. I enjoyed it a lot.”
The following week, the Sals fumbled the opening kickoff at Sussex Tech, the team that ended their season in the first round of the playoffs last year. This time, Reeder blocked the Ravens’ 38-yard field-goal attempt, and Sallies was on its way to a 42-7 victory.
“He’s a tremendous player, a tremendous competitor,” DiNardo said. “What he does on the field, what he does off the field, is just extraordinary stuff. He’s our strongest guy, he’s our fastest guy. He’s a great performer, he’s a great leader, he’s a great person.”
Reeder projects as an outside or middle linebacker in college, and at least a dozen programs have made him an offer. His older brother, Troy, was the state’s Defensive Player of the Year at Salesianum in 2013 and is now a starting linebacker at Penn State.
“He’s definitely a role model for me, somebody to look up to,” Colby said. “He’s a really hard worker, and he’s doing great at Penn State. I don’t like to compete with my brother, but he set some high standards for me coming through here. I wanted to work just as hard or harder than him.”
He did, and it paid off. Colby will take his time sorting through the offers and making campus visits before the signing period begins Feb. 3. He is looking forward to college football, where he will only have to concentrate on one side of the ball.
“It’s kind of hard to play offense and defense, especially when you’re getting 30 carries a game,” he said. “But I’m going to go on to play defense in college, and defense is what I love. I love to hit people, I love to fly around.
“This year, I was more tired on defense. When you’re getting the ball so much, you kind of have to conserve some energy here and there.”
Ask anybody who ran into him while carrying the ball. Colby Reeder always seemed to have plenty left.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ