Reed Scott Blankenship (born March 2, 1999) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the ...

and was signed by the Eagles as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

in .

Early life and education

Blankenship was born on March 2, 1999, and grew up in

Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 21,897. Histo ...

. He attended

West Limestone High School West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and played football and basketball. He was an all-state, all-region, all-county and all-area selection in football and earned the Player of the Year award in 2016. He served as the team's captain in two seasons and finished his career with 3,192 rushing yards, 1,004 yards receiving, 1,056 yards passing and 46 total touchdowns. After graduating from high school, Blankenship received scholarship offers from

Alabama A&M Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marsha ...

, Marist,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to a ...

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Çan ...

, Samford,

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Western Carolina Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...

, Arkansas Tech, Mercer,

UT Martin The University of Tennessee at Martin (UT Martin or UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. It is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system. UTM is the only public university in West Tennessee outside of Memphis ...

, and

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state o ...

. Blankenship accepted the offer from Middle Tennessee and played in 13 games, nine as a starter, in his true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. A ...

season (2017). He placed fourth on the team with 68 tackles and also made a sack and two interceptions, earning honorable mention all-conference and C-USA All-Fresman honors. As a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educati ...

in 2018, Blankenship appeared in 13 games and started 12, making a team-leading and career-high 107 tackles along with four interceptions and seven passes defended. His four interceptions ranked 16th in the nation. Against Old Dominion on October 27, he made a sack, 17 tackles, 3 for loss and returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown, earning the

Bronko Nagurski Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski (November 3, 1908 – January 7, 1990) was a Canadian-born professional American football player in the National Football League (NFL), renowned for his strength and size. Nagurski was also a successful professional w ...

National Defensive Player of the Week award and conference defensive player of the week honors. His interception return ranked number two on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's top plays of the day list. At the end of the season, Blankenship was named first-team all-conference. As a junior in 2019, Blankenship played in seven games before suffering a season-ending leg injury. A team captain, he compiled 58 tackles (fourth place on the team), two interceptions, three passes defended and a forced fumble before the injury. He also blocked two kicks, placing him first in the nation. Despite missing half the season, Blankenship was named second-team all-conference at the end of the year. In 2020, Blankenship appeared in and started all nine games and made a team-leading 76 tackles. He was part of the

Bednarik Award The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and professional Ame ...

and

Jim Thorpe Award The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payc ...

watchlists. He was projected a mid-round pick for the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

, but he decided to return for one more season at Middle Tennessee. In 2021, as a fifth-year

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 ...

, Blankenship started all 13 games and was the school's leading tackler with 110 stops. He made three fumble recoveries which ranked third in the nation, and also placed eighth nationally in solo tackles per game with 5.8. He played 1,030 snaps which was more than any other player on the team. Against

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an ...

, Blankenship returned a fumble 90 yards for a touchdown and made a forced fumble, two recoveries and seven stops, being named the conference defensive player of the week for his efforts. Against

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, he made 13 tackles and set the all-time Middle Tennessee tackles record. He was named a candidate for the

Senior CLASS Award The Senior CLASS Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in 10 NCAA Division I sports. An acronym for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School," the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete ...

on October 6. At the end of the year, he was named first-team all-conference, C-USA all-academic, the conference Spirit Service Award winner, the Middle Tennessee Defensive Ironman of the Year and a selection to the

East–West Shrine Bowl The East–West Shrine Bowl is a postseason college football all-star game that has been played annually since 1925; through the January 2019 playing, it was known as the East–West Shrine Game. The game is sponsored by the fraternal group S ...

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

, Blankenship was signed by the

as an

. He was one of three 2022 undrafted players to make the Eagles' final roster, along with

Josh Sills Joshua Matthew Sills (born January 26, 1998) is an American football offensive guard for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia and Oklahoma S ...

and

Josh Jobe Joshua Jobe (born April 9, 1998) is an American football cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, winning a national championship in 2020. Early life and high school Jo ...

. He made his NFL debut in week five against the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division, an ...

, recording two tackles in the 20–17 win. After being mostly a special teams player, Blankenship saw his first significant playing time on defense against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the th ...

in week twelve, after subbing in for the injured C. J. Gardner-Johnson. In the game, he made his first career interception, off of

Aaron Rodgers Aaron Charles Rodgers (born December 2, 1983) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Rodgers began his college football career at Butte College in 2002 before transferring to t ...

, and led the team in tackles with six.

References

External links

Philadelphia Eagles bio

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenship, Reed 1999 births Living people American football safeties Players of American football from Alabama People from Athens, Alabama Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football players Philadelphia Eagles players