EAST LANSING – Jayden Reed has been through a lot in football.
The Michigan State wide receiver is in his fifth year of college, has played in stadiums across the nation and earned All-American honors.
What Reed never considered was the possibility his season could be altered by a metal bench.
Late in the second quarter of a 52-0 win against Akron on Sept. 10, Reed made a leaping 22-yard catch along the sideline. He was pushed out of bounds by defensive back Nate Thompson and slid along the ground until his back hit the corner of the bench. Because there were multiple Akron players sitting on the bench, it barely budged and Reed sustained a cut.
“I never in a million years thought that would happen,” Reed said on Tuesday. “I couldn’t feel my back when it happened so I didn’t even know it was that until I had to get stitches. I had no idea.”
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Reed was immediately taken to the locker room and didn’t return to the game. He also missed a defeat at Washington the following game before returning to the lineup the next week for a loss against Minnesota for the Spartans (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten), who have now dropped three straight.
“At first, I couldn’t do anything,” Reed said. “I couldn’t sweat with my stitches and stuff like that. The cut was pretty deep so I really just had to rest, let that thing heal up on its own.”
Reed is coming off a monster season in which he posted 59 catches for 1,026 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also had two punt return touchdowns and a rushing score while being named a first team All-American as an all-purpose by the American Football Coaches Association.
Although the opportunity to enter the NFL draft was there, Reed returned to Michigan State for another season, looking to raise his play to an even higher level. That has been a challenge so far with the back injury that sidelined him for a game and a half. Reed has 19 receptions for 189 yards and caught his first touchdown pass of the season last week in the loss at Maryland.
“Everything happens for a reason, everything happens how it’s supposed to,” Reed said. “I’ve got to live day by day, keep working hard and that’s what I’m going to do. Obviously life changes and you’ve got to adapt to certain things and stuff like that. I’ve just got to keep going hard and everything’s going to happen how it’s supposed to.”
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Prior to the back injury, Reed never missed a college game, other than being forced to sit out the 2019 season after transferring from Western Michigan. He started all 22 games for the Spartans until not making the trip to Washington and watched the loss on TV with teammates.
“It was pretty frustrating,” Reed said. “I did everything I could to get back and my body just didn’t allow me to. I just had to stick with the plan.”
It has been a relatively quiet season so far for Reed and he hasn’t posted a 100-yard game yet. The cut on his back obviously didn’t help but he seven catches for 61 yards and a touchdown against Maryland.
“I think I still move pretty decent when I’m out there,” Reed said. “I try not to think about it, it’s really mental. Once you’re out there, you’re out there. It’s time to go.”
Reed hasn’t done much damage on special teams yet this year. He hasn’t returned a kickoff since the season opener and has four punt returns for only 21 yards. Just before suffering the back injury, Reed had an 87-yard punt return touchdown against Akron wiped out by a holding penalty but didn’t sound too disappointed.
“It’s on tape though,” he said.
The season hasn’t gone as expected for Reed or the Spartans, who have dropped three straight and have problems in all three phases of the game. Quarterback Payton Thorne, Reed’s longtime friend and teammate, has also been inconsistent and endured criticism amid the team’s struggles.
“We can’t pay attention to that,” Reed said. “We’ve got to focus on what we need to do to get better and that’s the only thing that we’re worried about.”
The road ahead only gets tougher for Michigan State, which hosts No. 3 Ohio State (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday. One positive for Reed is he should no longer have to worry about a repeat of the freak injury. After coach Mel Tucker lost his top receiver for a game and a half, padding was added to the sideline benches at Spartan Stadium.
“That’s pretty smart,” Reed said. “He’s looking out for all players so that’s good.”
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