Rylan Robert Reed (born November 18, 1981) is a former

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

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He played

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

as a pitcher in the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

organization from 2001 to 2005. After undergoing treatment for cancer, Reed enrolled at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

and 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 ...

from 2005 to 2008. He was selected as a first-team All-American

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

in 2008.

Early years and baseball

Born in

Clute, Texas Clute is a city in Brazoria County, Texas, United States, within the Houston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,604. The city gained some fame with the discovery of a fossilized mammoth named Asiel. History ...

, Reed attended

Crossett High School Crossett High School is a comprehensive public high school in Crossett, Arkansas, United States. It is one of two public high schools located in Ashley County, and the sole high school administered by the Crossett School District. In addition ...

Crossett, AR Crossett is the largest city in Ashley County, Arkansas, United States, with a population of 5,507, according to 2010 Census Bureau estimates. Combined with North Crossett and West Crossett, the population is 10,752. Crossett was incorporated ...

. He was a three sport star in high school, playing a tight end and defensive end in football, Center in basketball, and as a pitcher with a 95-mile per hour fastball for the baseball team. He was drafted by the

in the 2000 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft and was also recruited by

Houston Nutt Houston Dale Nutt Jr. (born October 14, 1957) is an American former college football coach and player. He formerly worked for CBS Sports as a college football studio analyst. Previously, he served as the head football coach at Murray State Univer ...

to play

for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

. The White Sox paid him a $550,000 signing bonus, and Reed opted for baseball. He spent four years from 2001 to 2004 playing minor league baseball as a pitcher in the White Sox organization. He compiled a 3–0 record and a 2.44

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

in 2002. During his minor league career, his fastball was clocked at 98 miles per hour. He was named the White Sox's "organizational pitcher of the year."

Brandon McCarthy Brandon Patrick McCarthy (born July 7, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher and front office executive. He is the special assistant to the general manager for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in M ...

, who played with Reed in 2002, recalled, "He would intimidate the hell out of you. He had muscles coming out of muscles. That was a sight.

Cancer and recovery

In 2003, Reed was diagnosed with

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tire ...

and underwent surgery to remove a tumor and three feet of his intestines. After several months of chemotherapy, Reed lost 30 pounds. When he recovered from the cancer treatment, his father was killed in an automobile accident. He returned to the White Sox in 2004, shortly after the death of his father, but his earned run average soared to 14.54 in five games for the

Great Falls White Sox Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" * Artel Great (bo ...

College football

After retiring from baseball in 2004, Reed enrolled at

, where he played

. He began as a tight end as a freshman in 2005, before being moved to

. After gaining 60 pounds, he became a starter for Texas Tech in 2007 and 2008. Reed set a Texas Tech record in 2008 with a 625-pound bench press. In 2008, Reed recalled having pitched to

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

during spring training in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. Bonds hit a fly ball to shallow right field for an out, prompting the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' to note: "That itself makes Reed arguably a one-man fraternity — possibly the only offensive lineman in college or pro football history able to claim an out against baseball's home run king." After the 2008 season, Reed was selected as a first-team All-American by both the

Walter Camp Football Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit ...

and

SI.com ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excelle ...

Awards and honors

*2007 All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

honorable mention *2008 All-Big 12 second team *2008

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

All-Big 12 first team *2008

first-team All-America *2008

first-team All-America

References

External links

Texas Tech bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Rylan American football offensive tackles Texas Tech Red Raiders football players Baseball pitchers Arizona League White Sox players Bristol White Sox players Great Falls White Sox players Baseball players from Houston 1981 births Living people All-American college football players Players of American football from Houston People from Crossett, Arkansas