Reed shows why

Make no mistake about it, Marysville (Calif.) Yuba C.C. inside linebacker Mike Reed is one of the top junior college football players in America. The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder is ranked by Rivals.com as one of the top five players in the country, and according to his defensive coordinator he's playing a lot like a top-ranked player should be.

"Everything is going really well," Yuba defensive coordinator Tomas Rodriguez said. "He's doing very well in school, passing all of his classes, and his season is going great, too. He's leading the team in tackles. I'm waiting to get an update from our stat guy, but Mike has had an amazing start."

Rodriguez said Reed's development has been nothing short of amazing.

"He's really understanding the defense so much better now that he's been here more than a year," Rodriguez said. "He understands what teams are trying to do to him and how they game plan around him. He understands what he must do now to get around those types of things and still make a lot of plays.

"He's also so much better at understanding what we want out of him as a leader and quarterback of the defense. He's finally gotten to the point where he knows what our system is like and he's letteing all that natural stuff come through."

And that natural stuff is why Oklahoma, the school he committed to back in late March, offered him a scholarship early.

"He's more intimidating," Rodriguez said.

"I told him before we played Santa Rosa that 'I want you to drop a receiver when they come across the middle.' " Rodriguez said. "I was watching film of the game, and my wife knows when I saw 'Oh my God' outloud then a big hit happened. I kept saying it after watching what he did against Santa Rosa. My wife comes in and asks 'So what did Mike do now.'

"She walked right in the room when he leveled this receiver. They stopped running drags after that. He did what we asked him to do, and he made sure that those receivers weren't going to come over the middle anymore."

Reed still remains a solid Oklahoma commitment, his coach said.

"He's still good to go with Oklahoma and is excited about it," Rodriguez said. "As long as nothing changes with his classes, that's where he's going."