Jordan Smith | Sports Writer
Big 12 officials announced on Monday that senior cornerback Ryan Reid received the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week award after his performance Saturday against the Kansas University Jayhawks.
This is the first time Reid has won a Big 12 weekly award. He is also the sixth Baylor player this year to receive a Big 12 weekly award.
Head coach Jim Grobe credits the pick six that Reid got in the first quarter of the this past weekend’s game to the game plan that was set up by Baylor.
“I think one thing we did as a coaching staff this week that I was really impressed with and that Phil [Bennett] and the guys did, I think they really had the guys tuned into what they like to do out of certain sets,” Grobe said. “I think because of the coverages we had in this week, and the set recognition probably gave him a little extra jump on the ball, but it was a huge play for us. Of course, anytime you score defensively, it’s huge. And I thought Ryan just made a great play.”
While Reid impressed on the field, he didn’t hesitate to deflect the credit of his stellar performance to the preparation of his team and in his faith.
“Well, the first thing, we game planned for the outs and just certain routes that they run. It changed our whole game plan,” Reid said. “The second thing is, man, I just put it in God’s hand. I had faith all season. This is something I prayed about, just to live up to the expectations that I know I can, and it just turned out great.”
The Bears defense that Reid was part of set a school record for combined interception return yards at 170. This broke the previous record which was set in a 1956 game against Rice. Reid also helped the Bears limit the Jayhawks to 217 yards of total offense and 134 passing yards.
“We were just trying to make a statement. A lot of people thought that the Iowa State film is who we are, which it’s not,” Reid said. “We had to make a statement with our next game. I told you Kansas was in the way, and I told you we were going to up come out fired up. We didn’t want to play like that ever again in the season.”
Reid and the Bears look to keep their stellar season going as they travel to the University of Texas at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.
