All 105 is a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State football player. Here is a profile of safety Jaylen Reed.
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 209-pounds
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Before Penn State: Reed was a three-year letterman at Martin Luther King High School and helped his team to a state championship as a sophomore in 2018.
Reed made All-State as a junior and finished the season with 119 tackles, eight forced fumbles and an interception. Additionally, Reed scored five touchdowns on offense.
By the end of his high school career, Reed, who also lettered in basketball and track, was a four-star recruit on 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals and the No. 7 player in Michigan for his class, according to ESPN. He committed to Penn State in April of 2020.
2021: Reed and fellow Detroit product Kalen King were the only true freshman not to redshirt last season. Reed appeared in eight of Penn State’s 13 games, picking up six tackles (four solo) and a quarterback hurry.
Where he stands: Many Penn State fans will be paying attention to Reed this season, with Jaquan Brisker now in the NFL and the team needing somebody to step up alongside veteran Ji’Ayir Brown at safety.
Although Penn State has some depth at safety, such as Zakee Wheatley, who led the team in takeaways during spring practice, the second starting safety slot seems to be Reed’s to lose.
A quote about Reed:
“Jaylen Reed is a guy who comes trying to be great every single day,” sixth-year senior Jonathan Sutherland said this spring. “He’s gonna push himself, and he’s gonna compete. So that’s one thing I love about him. He brings the same thing every day in practice, that work ethic and the hunger to get better.”
