Marshall University Athletics
MCGILL: Reavis has experience against national title contender
9/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Before his appearance on the Netflix documentary series "Last Chance U," C.J. Reavis faced a national champion in the 'Shoe.
The Marshall University junior safety, who played last season at East Mississippi Community College, was a freshman in 2014 when unranked Virginia Tech traveled to Ohio State and won, 35-21. The Buckeyes, ranked No. 8 at the time, didn't lose again and captured the first College Football Playoff championship.
So when Louisville, which at No. 3 is tied for the highest-ranked FBS team to ever visit Huntington, kicks it off with the Thundering Herd (Saturday, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network), having a national title contender as an opponent will not be new to Reavis.
"Back then I was a freshman and every team seemed (elite) to me," he said. "I was nervous, but it is different now because I'm going to have more of an impact in the game."
Reavis said he played defense and special teams against Ohio State two seasons ago. He did not record a statistic. But he came away with valuable experience against a national title-caliber team. Ohio State tumbled from No. 8 to No. 22 after losing to Reavis' Hokies, but the Buckeyes won 12 consecutive games from there and defeated Oregon for the CFP title.
Louisville's national ranking is the same as WVU's when the Mountaineers visited in 2007. The Cardinals, however, have six first-place votes in the latest Associated Press poll (there are 61 voters), while that West Virginia team carried one first-place vote into a sold-out Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
"You've got to focus," Reavis said. "The first play is going to be so hype but it's just football after that."
Reavis is a 6-foot-1, 209-pound junior from Chester, Virginia, who had offers from programs like Virginia Tech, Ohio State, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Nebraska out of Thomas Dale High School. He made his way to Huntington after a one-year stop at the junior college in Scooba, Mississippi, where he had occasional screen time for Netflix's popular six-episode football documentary. Reavis has more than 7,000 followers on the social media website Twitter. That's more than MU head coach Doc Holliday.
"People from across the world in the (United Kingdom) and places like that are messaging me about the show," Reavis said. "It's crazy how it caught on. I didn't understand how big it got until I turned on Twitter."
Reavis' Hokies-to-Herd connection was defensive line coach J.C. Price, who was a first-team All-Big East selection at defensive tackle during his time at Virginia Tech. A family friend connected Reavis to Price, and he became a crucial addition to an inexperienced secondary.
Through four games, Reavis is fourth on the team in tackles (10) and has one tackle for a loss entering the Herd's third non-conference game of the season.
"After the first tackle and that first play the butterflies go out," Reavis said, "After that the crowd seems quiet to you and then you're all right."
