Inside The Huskies

Huskies Unleash Speedy Reynolds for the First Time Against USC

The redshirt freshman had the game-winner against the Trojans.

Dan Raley

Huskies wide receiver Keith Reynolds (15) celebrates after rushing for a touchdown against USC during the fourth quarter.
Huskies wide receiver Keith Reynolds (15) celebrates after rushing for a touchdown against USC during the fourth quarter. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Carson Bruener, Khmori House and Lance Holtzclaw were among those who provided game-saving plays in the University of Washington football team's 26-21 victory over USC on Saturday night at Husky Stadium.

Yet it was the tiniest and fastest guy among them -- 5-foot-9, 180-pound Keith Reynolds -- who supplied the game-winner.

In what could be considered his Husky coming-out party, the redshirt freshman from Adelanto, California, which is nestled in the high desert at 2,800 feet elevation and 90 miles outside of Los Angeles, was able to get out and run a little bit for Jedd Fisch's team for the first time.

In the second quarter, following USC's first touchdown that cut the UW lead to 10-7, Reynolds snapped off a 50-yard kickoff return -- the longest by the Huskies in 24 games, since Germie Bernard went 51 against Boise State in the season opener last season -- thus putting his team in excellent position to respond with an immediate score of its own.

"I thought the kickoff return was a huge play for us," Fisch said. "We haven't been able to flip the field on special teams this year."

Early in the fourth quarter, Reynolds lined up left, went in motion, took a handoff and raced into the end zone without anyone touching him for a 4-yard TD run and the deciding points.

"The jet sweep, he made a great play there, really putting the jets on and did a nice job of getting around the edge," Fisch said, turning aeronautical.

That was the long and the short of it to this guy with 4.3-second 40 speed who seems destined for a career of long-distance runs.

Reynolds was one of the more unusual recruiting finds for the previous Kalen DeBoer coaching staff, discovered in the heart of the Mojave Desert, where he did wondrous things without much help on the football field.

While playing for 1-9 Adelanto High as a senior, he was so good for a bad team he was named Desert Sky League Offensive Player of the Year. He played quarterback, wide receiver and running back, all rolled into one, plus cornerback.

With his big-league speed, Reynolds had the ability to go the distance no matter what he was doing at the time. He broke 77- and 94-yard runs for instant touchdowns, got free for 77- and 80-yard punt returns for scores, and returned an interception 89 yards for yet another electrifying TD.

Typical of his senior outings was a 2022 game against Granite Hills in which Reynolds rushed for 225 yards and 3 scores and, as a left-hander winging it, passed for 319 yards and 4 scores in a 68-56 defeat.

The Huskies simply will use him as a kick returner and a pass-catcher, with Reynolds still learning the intricacies of receiving at the college level. He has 3 receptions for 22 yards so far this season, and he's just getting started. He came to the UW as an athlete who knew a little bit about a lot of things. He's much more one-dimensional now.

"Honestly, outside of Denzel [Boston], I would say Keith was the biggest positive in the receiver room coming out of the spring, in just how he progressed," UW receivers coach Kevin Cummings said before the season began.

USC and the Husky fan base know a little bit more about this desert rat who's just getting started in making things happen in Montlake. His teammates have been waiting on him for his break-out moment and helped him celebrate it.

"The guys were so happy for him in the locker room, they had him break us down at the end," Fisch said, referring to Reynolds going front and center before his teammates and addressing them with a few words.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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