With the help of father-figure coach, former Blue Wave Zikel Reddick turns things around in California

After his sophomore season, running back Zikel Reddick was set to be the next big thing to come out of Riverhead.

Speed, agility, vision, power — Reddick had it all.

He envisioned himself playing in college, continuing the sport that he was just meant to play. But there was something holding him back: his grades. Before he entered one of his classes later that year, his guidance counselor pulled him over to the side and brought him into her office.

“She said, ‘Hey, you need this, that and this if you really want to play college football’ and I’m looking at my classes like ‘OK, so I didn’t know I was doing that terrible.'”

His GPA was well below 2.0. Without the grades to back up his play, his chances of playing at the next level were slipping away. That’s when his mom reached out to voluntary assistant Riverhead football coach Jeff Falisi. He’s known and coached Reddick since he was a nine-year-old on the PAL Giants.

“Zikel and I have a father-and-son relationship and I get along very well with his whole family,” Falisi said. “He doesn’t have a father in his life. His father was killed when Zikel was at a very young age. I would do anything for him just like I would do everything for any of my kids. His mom came to me and said Zikel needed a boost in life.”

The two of them sat down and created a game plan to get him the best opportunity to get into a college through athletics. He wasn’t going to get the looks he needed in Riverhead and the amount of distractions interfering with his success outweighed any potential to stay.

“So I reached out to some family in California,” Falisi said. “A family member of mine played at a very high level in the SEC and now deals with professional athletes. He helped us determine what needed to be done.”

Reddick’s highlight tape spoke for itself. High school coaches from all over southern California began to bite when presented with the tape. Now it was just a matter of choosing the right situation.

They decided on Grace Brethren, a college preparatory high school in Simi Valley, California. They helped his mom find a job and an apartment in the area so that she could be there for her son. Because he was enrolled in summer school at Riverhead, he wasn’t able to attend any practices and actually showed up the first week of the regular season.

“I came two days before school started,” Reddick said. “I was thinking to myself ‘how am I even here?’ I never thought that this would happen. I was just a Riverhead kid all my life.”

He attended his first practice later that day.

“The practices were insane,” Reddick said. “I never practiced like this before. It was two o’clock and it was still 97 degrees outside. No clouds, no humidity, just dry heat. It just killed me.”

The coach was quite frank with him following the practice.

“He told me that he knows that I’m a great athlete but that I’m not going to start right away,” Reddick said. “He said I would have to earn that position.”

Reddick went to work. He trained hard. He studied. He gave it his all. And he finally got his shot in the fifth game of the season.

“It’s a different way of life out there,” Falisi said. “They train with a Division I mentality. Every day they’re reminded of the goal.”

Reddick left Riverhead weighing 170 lbs. By the end of his junior season, he was weighing 205. He made a splash the second he got a chance.

He was inserted into the fifth game of the season after the starting running back had fumbled twice.

“Coach called my number and I wasn’t going to let him down,” Reddick said.

Reddick’s first carry was a 20-yard gain. He continued to pound the rock. His final stat line was 24 carries with 200+ yards and he didn’t even start. That was just the beginning.

The rest of the season, he was the starter. But his touches were still limited.

“I thought I was going to be the man from there on out,” Reddick said. “But I wasn’t. I wasn’t getting as many touches as I would have liked. He made me earn every single carry. A lot of people are given things but he refused to give me anything until I earned it. He was building character. As a man, you have to earn everything.”

He battled in practice, got stronger and became the leader everyone envisioned him to be. In Grace Brethren’s first playoff game, Reddick ran the ball 21 times and tallied 266 yards. He scored five touchdowns in the beat-down.

Reddick ended up taking his school to the state championship. Unfortunately, he hurt his ankle and was unable to contribute in the final game of the season but nevertheless, he finished the season with over 2,300 yards and was named All-State. All of this for a kid that didn’t even start until nearly midway through the season.

The interest started pouring in for the junior. He finished the first semester with a 3.75 GPA. His academic focus never wavered. He now has over a 2.0 accumulative GPA and is able to receive offers.

“Grades are what make you who you are,” Reddick said. “It doesn’t matter what you do on the football field if you don’t succeed in the classroom.”

Though he hasn’t officially received a scholarship because of how late he arrived, offers should start pouring in once the season starts. A lot of eyes will be on Reddick when he begins his senior campaign.

Among the schools that have seriously inquired are: Azuza Pacific University, Wyoming University, Washington University, Washington State University, and Utah State University.

Over twenty Division I schools came to watch Reddick play during the season.

Reddick has been working with former NFL running back Darick Holmes, whose son is the No. 1 running back in the nation. He says that Zikel will be among the best of the backs of his class in no time.

“Offers will start coming in one after another,” Reddick said. “A lot of teams won’t jump on you right away because they don’t want to waste a scholarship. They’ll say I want to offer you but what if you don’t make this requirement? All it has done is make me work harder.”

In Riverhead his mindset was, “I’ll put that off until tomorrow.” It’s all changed now.

“To do things the right way, every decision is critical,” Reddick said. “Everything I say, everything I do is done with the mentality of becoming a better man. I give all the glory to God.”

Sometimes all a kid needs is a different mindset. Surroundings can differ and they certainly play a role but ultimately the choices you make will define who you are.

“Coach Falisi was always there for me to get focused in the classroom,” Reddick said. “I was just the kid that didn’t want to care. I’m glad he had the patience with me to let me grow up and become a man and learn to prioritize. I truly love that man.

“It’s not easy to change your lifestyle but you can do it,” he continued. “To break the chain of constant failures, you just need to look at yourself and say ‘I’m better than that. I can do this. I can do that.’ You don’t have to play sports to understand that school gets you to wherever you want to go in life. Grades make you.”