Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Reaves Finally More than a Runback Man
10/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. ââ'¬" He already is in Marshall's football career record book as the most prolific kick return yardage man, but redshirt senior Deandre Reaves isn't much about history.
The 5-foot-10, 179-pound slot receiver gained his MU undergraduate degree this summer ââ'¬" in marketing. That's an appropriate field of study for Reaves, because the redshirt senior spent four years marketing his special skills to Herd coaches.
His Marshall career has been much like that of another Herd player who starred at a Loudoun County High School in northern Virginia ââ'¬" running back Essray Taliaferro. He went from No. 4 in the depth chart as a 2012 junior to a senior starter who had a 1,140 rushing year with 10 touchdowns.
Taliaferro's only start prior to his senior season was when he was pressed into service in the 2012 finale at East Carolina due to injuries to the top three backs. He gained 130 yards in a 65-59 double-overtime loss.
Reaves, 23, knows the feeling. When he takes the field Saturday as Marshall makes its first football visit to Charlotte, it will be his seventh career start. The first six were the last six weeks.
A senior ââ'¬Â¦ finally gets a chance on offense ââ'¬Â¦ anybody realize he was this good?
"I don't really think about it too much," Reaves said when reminded of Taliaferro's Herd career. "I always tell myself there's a reason for everything, and I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason.
"There was a reason I got my chance this year and not in the past. Maybe I wasn't ready; who knows? God always has a plan ââ'¬Â¦ A door opened up for me and I just stepped up and took on the task."
When August camp began, Reaves was the No. 3 slot receiver. He moved up when Coach Doc Holliday parted ways with sophomore Angelo Jean-Louis, and then sophomore starter Hyleck Foster had some drops and Reaves got his chance.
"I'd say a combination of the two," Reaves said when asked if he thought he opened eyes in practice or games. "There was that and keeping the trust with your coach, I guess you want to say. This past spring, I took it to another level.
"I thought, 'This is my last year, I want to do a little more than just return kicks.' So, maybe I worked a little harder and just got on the same page as the quarterbacks and the coaches and just stepped up." Reaves and tight end Ryan Yurachek have been the Herd's most reliable pass catchers in 2015. Reaves leads Marshall with 28 receptions for 383 yards, with three touchdowns. He had only eight career catches (for 68 yards) coming into the season.
"I can stand here and say, I always thought (he had reached the point where he could play on more than special teams)," Reaves said. "When I stepped into college, it was my dream to play college football. So, OK, I'm ready, but you think you are, or you aren't.
"That's always going to be a thought process. You love to play football and that's why we came here, to play football and get an education. I always felt that I was ready, but I just had to get my chance and when the chance was given to me, that's when I showed I was ready."
His Herd-record 2,217 kick return yards ranks second among active major college players to the 2,788 by UTEP senior Autrey Golden. Reaves has had 924- and 931-yard kick return seasons in 2013 and '14. He needs 11 more returns to take the Marshall career KR record, too. Ray Crisp's 92 returns from 1975-78 is the standard.
Reaves also kick-started the Herd toward its Boca Raton Bowl rout of Northern Illinois last December with a 93-yard runback for his first career score. He's since added another ââ'¬" same distance ââ'¬" to lift the Herd from a two-TD deficit at Kent State toward a double-OT win last month.
Those were special ââ'¬" and timely ââ'¬" big plays. Now, however, Reaves doesn't leave the field after providing his specialty.
"Absolutely, I appreciate it," said Reaves, of Sterling, Va. "I mean, whether it was last year or my senior year, it was going to be appreciated the same way."
Asked if he approached the season with a now-or-never mindset, he shrugged.
"Kind of, sort of," Reaves said, smiling.
When Taliaferro began his senior season with an 89-yard rushing day in a home win over Miami (Ohio), Reaves was the No. 4 running back. He carried five times for 3 yards. In his high school career, he ran for 5,620 yards and scored 68 touchdowns.
He came to Marshall, sat out his first season to retain eligibility, and later gained his undergraduate degree. Now, he's taking classes toward a management major, too. On the field, he has gone wherever Holliday and his staff has sent him ââ'¬" receiver, running back, even cornerback briefly. Did returning kicks as well as he has pave Reaves' way into an offensive starting role ââ'¬" finally?
"The way they do it around here is your best guys, they play on special teams," Reaves said. "So -- and considering that I played on special teams -- I felt they always knew I had some type of potential to do something.
"Where it was going to be -- running back, outside receiver, inside receiver, corner for a little bit ââ'¬" I guess they were trying to figure out where it was going to be. So, a couple players went down and holes had to be filled and I got moved back to inside. I started playing well."
There isn't much time left in a Herd uniform for Reaves. He intends to keep doing what he's done ââ'¬" make the most of it.
