BY ERIC KNOPSNYDER
Antwuan Reed sees his freshman year at Pitt as one big learning experience.
He discovered how much faster football is in college than it was in high school.
He found out that there was plenty that he didn’t know about playing defensive back.
And he’s about to learn what it’s like to play in a bowl game.
Despite the fact that there were plenty of things he didn’t know coming into the season, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said Reed was actually much further ahead when he came out of Greater Johnstown High School than the coaching staff expected him to be.
“He is a guy that we were really planning on redshirting,” Wannstedt said. “When he came in, he was probably further ahead physically and mentally from a player standpoint than we ever expected.”
Reed’s play forced the coaching staff to get him on the field.
The first time he got to play in a game was in Pitt’s upset of then-No. 10 South Florida in a nationally televised road game.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Reed said of his first collegiate game. “It was even greater to step out on the field.”
Reed played in the final eight games, seeing time at cornerback in most of them and on special teams. And the entire time, he was soaking up as much information as possible.
“It’s a learning experience,” he said. “The major part was I was a running back in high school and coming in as a defensive back, it changed everything. Learning to stay with the receivers, it’s a big switch. They’re a lot faster than the guys I played against in high school.”
LaRod Stephens-Howling, who also went to Greater Johnstown, was impressed by what Reed has done at Pitt – on and off the field.
“He’s been great for us,” Stephens-Howling said. “He’s done well in the classroom. I can’t wait to see him grow over the years and learn more technique. I think he’s going to be a great player here.”
Reed could be a big part of Pitt’s future, which is looking brighter after going 9-3 and earning a spot in the Sun Bowl opposite Oregon State.
“We haven’t had nine wins for a long time,” Reed said. “To get 10 and win in the bowl game, that would be even better. That would be a big step in turning the program around.”
