The junior season stat line of Penn State target Brandon Reddish pretty accurately describes his explosiveness.
Receiving: 30 catches, 763 yards (25.4 ypc), 11 touchdowns; Rushing: Four carries, 122 yards, one touchdown.
"The only comment I want to make about those statistics is they should fire the coach because we should have thrown to him more," Brooklyn (N.Y.) Fort Hamilton head coach Vince Laino said jokingly.
Penn State assistant Kermit Buggs briefly stopped by in early December and, Reddish said, the safeties coach asked about his grades and what position he preferred to play (he also plays safety).
Other squads to visit include West Virginia, Miami (Fla.), Pitt and Maryland. He's also getting recruited by LSU and Syracuse, and he has an offer from Rutgers.
"I'm just waiting for the offers to come in, and I'll decide from there," Reddish said.
Fort Hamilton is no stranger to producing high-profile recruits. Laino helped coach Rutgers wideout Keith Stroud, a rising redshirt sophomore, and Temple defensive eback Jaiquawn Jarrett, a soon-to-be senior who was named to the All-MAC team.
Laino said he's been describing Reddish to college coaches by comparing him to Stroud, who stood at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds at Fort Hamilton. Reddish is about 6-foot, 175 pounds.
"He's much faster and far more explosive than Keith ever was," Laino said. "Keith was more of a pure receiver type; Brandon is a much more versatile kid."
According to Laino, Reddish's yards have been evenly split between screens and deep balls.
"He can do it all," Laino added. "He's the kind of a kid that even when they're playing Cover-3 and laying back, he can still outrun the defensive backs."
As a sophomore, Reddish's specialty was cornerback. He wound up with eight interceptions that season and was named to the all-city team. This past season, he played mostly wideout and moved over to safety — and made the all-city squad as a wideout.
He said he prefers to compete at wide receiver.
"When I get the ball in my hands, I just try to look for a crease," Reddish said. "If I get to the crease, I think I have the speed to break it."
Next season, his coach said, he won't make the same mistake of under-utilizing that quickness. He'll find a way to get the ball in the Reddish's hands 15-20 times a game.
It's already "gotten a little crazy," Laino said, since Rutgers offered Reddish. And he expects even more interest to pick up in the coming weeks.
"First of all, he's one of the best players I've ever had - period," Laino said. "... He'll probably be offered by most of the schools in the Northeast."
Reddish explodes on scene
