by Bill Franques
Special to LSUsports.net
When offensive tackle Rodney Reed entered LSU in the fall of 1999, he had, unlike many college freshmen, a clear picture of what he wanted to accomplish. His career path began with the selection of a course of study, the daunting curriculum of accounting.
“I just wanted to choose something challenging that was related to business,” Reed said, explaining his choice of majors. “I thought accounting was probably one of the harder business majors. A lot of people who have been successful in business choose accounting. One of my goals is to become a CPA and maybe go to law school one day and practice tax law.”
Reed, entering his senior season, is on his way to realizing that goal, as he has already received his bachelor’s degree in accounting, posting a 3.94 cumulative GPA and earning 2002 first-team Academic All-America honors. He is presently attending graduate school, and he expects to earn a master’s in accounting this spring.
Reed said that his athletic and academic experiences have meshed perfectly.
“Athletics in general makes you a more competitive person in the classroom and in the business world,” he explained. “It makes you push yourself to the highest degree.” Reed also credits head coach Nick Saban with providing LSU student-athletes the resources necessary to succeed in an academic environment. Saban played an instrumental role in the construction of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes, a $15 million state-of-the-art facility that opened on campus last fall.
“Coach Saban came in and put his stamp on the academic program by building the Academic Center,” Reed said. “A lot of coaches come in and talk about it, but he’s the one who put in a large sum of money himself and really got that thing rolling. It showed everybody on the team and in the community that he’s really dedicated to making everybody successful academically.”
Reed complements his academic excellence with a sincere desire to make an impact in the local community. He frequently volunteers his spare time to visit with youngsters throughout the Baton Rouge area.
“That’s really the most rewarding thing for us is to give back to the community,” Reed said. “Talk to kids, brighten their day and try to motivate them a little bit.”
While Reed has been a stalwart in the classroom and the community, his performance on the field has been exemplary as well. He has started 34 straight games at offensive tackle, and last season, he committed just four penalties in a team-high 889 snaps from scrimmage.
This season, Reed, who plays right tackle, and senior right guard Stephen Peterman are the veteran leaders of a unit regarded as one of the strongest components of the 2003 Fighting Tigers.
“Expectations don’t really mean a whole lot to us; we don’t look at those pre-season honors,” Reed said of an LSU offensive line that received ample recognition during the summer. “We just have to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re pretty experienced as a unit, and we know that hard work will make us successful, not all of the pre-season accolades.
“We need to keep everybody healthy; that’s was the main thing that hurt us last year. One of our main goals is affecting somebody positively each day. We want to make each other better that way, and then the whole team gets better.”
New to the offensive line this season is coach Stacy Searels, who begins his first season at LSU after serving as the O-Line coach at the University of Cincinnati. Searels, a 1987 first-team All-American at Auburn, played three seasons in the NFL for the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins.
Reed said Searels brings stability to the Tigers’ front wall.
“His best quality is that he’s the same every day; he’s very consistent, and he’s going to coach you hard every day,” Reed explained. “He really focuses on technical things; that’s his big asset, he’s a great technique coach.”
At 6-4, 280 pounds, Reed is actually considered to be small in today’s world of behemoth offensive linemen. For example, Andrew Whitworth, the Tigers’ left offensive
tackle, stands 6-7 and weighs 325 pounds. Despite his lack of “size,” Reed has developed into one of LSU’s most effective players.
“My strength is the mental aspect of it, knowing what’s going to happen before it happens,” Reed said. “I’m not the biggest or fastest guy, but I can read things that the
defense is planning to do before they happen.”
Reed also attributes some of his collegiate success to his career at West Monroe High School, a nationally-recognized program that annually produces outstanding Division I prospects.
“When you come from a successful program, it makes the transition to college a lot easier for you,” Reed explained. “But to be honest, nothing can fully prepare you for 90,000 fans at LSU; the stage is multiples higher. The winning in high school prepares you, but the atmosphere here is something you can’t compare it to.”
Reed begins his final season in an LSU uniform tonight in Tiger Stadium, where he hopes to create one more year of cherished memories.
“The main reason to come to LSU is the players, because your teammates are going to be your friends for life,” he explained. “The other major asset is the facilities that we have here, especially Tiger Stadium on Saturday night. I’ve been fortunate to play a lot of games in a lot of places, and there’s nothing better than LSU.”