SI All-American Candidate Jaylen Reed Highlights and Evaluation
Prospect: Jaylen Reed
Status: SI All-American Candidate
Vitals: 6-foot, 190 pounds
Position: Safety
School: Detroit (Mich.) Martin Luther King
Committed to: Penn State
Projected Position: Safety
Frame: Can be considered undersized for a strong safety, especially one that plays in the box this much. Has great length and room to add some mass throughout.
Athleticism: Ball skills are present and on the elite end of the scale. He closes space exceptionally quickly and when he arrives it’s felt and noticed. He unzips quickly in the open field and seems to cover sideline to sideline well enough.
Instincts: Knows one instinct at this point in time, comes downhill and does so in a hurry. He’s a physical football player that will need to learn how to move backwards on the next level but he’s got a nose for the football that’s apparent.
Polish: He’s going to have to play safety on the next level considering his size, but he’s played little to no safety up through his junior season of high school as far as we can tell. He’s essentially playing inside linebacker for MLK in Michigan, but he does so exceptionally well. So, you won’t have to clean up the tackling.
Bottom Line: Reed is going to have to learn to play in the pedal unless Penn State plans to use him as an in the box strong safety, in which he will excel early on in his career. If he’s allowed to continue to play downhill, he’s going to have early success on the next level with hybrid defender upside.