Fred Reid (born March 16, 1982) is the

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, associate and assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive a ...

for the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He is a former professional

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

who played primarily for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

. He was originally signed by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

in 2005. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

College career

Reid attended

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

and in four years of

he totaled 996 rushing yards on 236 rushing attempts with six touchdowns. He also totaled 44 receptions, 349 receiving yards and two touchdowns. When he graduated he finished as the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

's (SEC) all-time leading kick returner. As a kick returner with the Bulldogs, Reid had 61 returns for 1,303 yards. As a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 2004, Reid helped

Sylvester Croom Sylvester Croom Jr. (born September 25, 1954) is an American former football player and coach. He was the head coach at Mississippi State University from 2004 to 2008, and the first African American head football coach in the Southeastern Conf ...

, the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

head coach in the SEC, win his debut by rushing for 37 yards on 15 carries and one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. During his final season which is considered his best at Mississippi State, Reid had 82 rushes, 393 yards and two touchdowns. Against

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, he had a career-high 18 rushes for 72 rushing yards.

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Coming out of

, Reid went undrafted in the

2005 NFL draft The 2005 NFL draft, the 70th in league history, took place on April 23 and 24, 2005 NFL season, 2005. The draft was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City and was televised for the 26th consecutive year, with coverage on E ...

and was signed by the

shortly after the draft. He was released by the Buccaneers on June 28, 2005.

Mississippi MudCats

In the spring of 2007, Reid played for the Mississippi MudCats of the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) is a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

After spending 2006 out of football, upon recommendation from

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

Barrin Simpson Barrin Simpson (born October 1, 1977) is an American former professional football linebacker who played 11 seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Early life and college He attended Starkville High School in Mississippi, where he played ...

, Reid was signed by Winnipeg on April 5, 2007. In his first year with the Blue Bombers he played in all 18 regular-season games and rushed for 270 yards on 40 attempts with two touchdowns. Reid got two starts when Charles Roberts was out with injury. In those two starts, Reid ran for 196 yards and two touchdowns. As a kickoff returner, he had 213 yards on nine attempts. He saw playing time in all three of Winnipeg's playoff games including the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

against

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. In his second year in Winnipeg, Reid totaled 709 yards on 101 rushing attempts and added three touchdowns. He was named an all-star after the season. After the 2008 season, Reid's contract expired and he became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, however he was re-signed on January 30, 2009. He was expected to share time at

with Joe Smith in 2009. However, after Lavarus Giles impressed Blue Bombers management, Smith was released, meaning Reid would end up sharing carries with Giles. On August 21, 2009, Reid set a new Blue Bombers record for rushing in a single game with 260 yards, with the previous record being 249. Reid led the league in rushing during the

2010 CFL season The 2010 CFL season is the 57th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it is the 53rd Canadian Football League season. Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton hosted the 98th Grey Cup on November 28 when the Montreal Alouettes became th ...

with 1,396 yards. After spending five seasons with the Blue Bombers, he was released on February 27, 2012.

Statistics

Coaching career

Toronto Argonauts

On February 6, 2020, it was announced that Reid had joined the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

as the team's running backs coach. While the

2020 CFL season The 2020 CFL season would have been the 67th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it would have been the 63rd season of the Canadian Football League. It was originally scheduled to begin on June 11; on April 7, the start of the ...

was cancelled, Reid continued as a coach for the Argonauts in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. He was not retained by the Argonauts following the season.

Ottawa Redblacks

On March 11, 2022, it was announced that Reid had joined the

as the team's

. The move reunited him with his former Winnipeg

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Paul LaPolice Paul LaPolice (born June 12, 1970) is an American former gridiron football, football coach who is a broadcaster for The Sports Network, TSN. He has served as the head coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Footb ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, Fred 1982 births Living people American football running backs Canadian football running backs Mississippi MudCats players Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Players of American football from Tampa, Florida Players of Canadian football from Tampa, Florida Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Toronto Argonauts coaches Ottawa Redblacks coaches