Every recruiting story at Penn State and anywhere else is unique but it’s hard to think of many that are better than that of Luke Reynolds.
It’d be unfair to call Reynolds “an overnight success.”
After all, he did work his tail off to get noticed by Penn State when he was a relative unknown in the recruiting landscape.
With that said, anybody who goes from the 913th-ranked player in the country to a five-star recruit within five months is doing something almost unheard of.
Even with Penn State having again having a crowded tight end room, Reynolds is the type of true freshman than could make an impact almost right away. He’s the latest subject of All 105, a Nittany Sports Now series profiling each Penn State player.
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 241 pounds
Hometown: Westford, Massachusetts
Before Penn State: Despite growing up in Massachusetts, Luke Reynolds played high school football at the Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. After committing to Penn State in March of his junior year, Reynolds put together a dominant senior season, ending with 754 yards and nine touchdowns on 48 catches. His performances earned him All-America status.
Where he stands: Reynolds has a lot of competition in the tight end room. Tyler Warren might be the first TE taken in next year’s draft. Khalil Dinkins is drawing rave reviews ahead of his fourth season. Andrew Rappleyea is a promising redshirt freshman and Jerry Cross has potential going into his third season. But five-star talents don’t come along often, so Reynolds certainly has a shot to make an impact.
A quote by Reynolds: “For the first game, I was just playing quarterback. During the second game is when we started switching back and forth. We had another quarterback on the team, Drew Hall, who’s committed to Navy. He was also a senior. So, every time I was in at quarterback, he would go play the H-Back or tight end position. Then, we’d go vice versa and he’d go to the quarterback position and I would try H-back or tight end. “We saw a lot of positive things when I was at tight end, so we just kind of kept it going from there. By the end of the season, I was playing the majority of my time at tight end.” — Reynolds to Blue-White Illustrated’s Greg Pickel on his switch from QB to TE.
A quote about Reynolds: “He’s going to be a really good player here.” — James Franklin to reporters after an August practice.
