Former Blue Waves football star has message for Riverhead youth: Stay in school — there’s life beyond the gridiron

Before there was Miguel Maysonet, there was Jamar Reid.

Reid grew up in the shadows of halfback Mike Owen, who famously led the Blue Waves to a Suffolk County championship in 2003. A year younger than Owen, Reid was overly eager to get his chance in the spotlight and he would get it his senior season.  He got his touches junior year because of a elbow injury to Owen and built up enough hype that collegiate interest started to pile up.

Before his senior year, Reid was on every list imaginable, earning honors in local and nationwide preseason awards. The thing about preseason projections is that they’re just that: projections. Who knows what could happen over the course of a season?

“Syracuse, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Penn State, I had basically every school recruiting me from the North East. The Big East, SEC, you name it,” Reid said. “They all came down to little old Riverhead to recruit me and wanted to see my first year as a full-time starter.”

After Owen, Reid was supposed to be the next big thing to “make it.” Owen had secured a scholarship from Syracuse University and Reid was next in line.

“It was a really rainy day against West Babylon,” Reid recalls. “Game four of the season. Everything came crashing down.”

A handoff turned ugly as Reid lost his footing. A tear ripped through his body after making a cut and that was it. His ACL was torn.

“I was having a good season to that point,” Reid said. “But I still thought I played enough to show what I could do.”

The injury wasn’t really the problem, though. It was his grades.

“When the schools found out what my grades were, they said the only way I could get in was to have a really high SAT score,” Reid said. “I wasn’t going to qualify for the NCAA. I wasn’t going to get that score. I was honest with myself.”

All his dreams started to crumble right before his eyes. He made a last-ditch effort to attend Milford Academy, in New Berlin, NY, mid-school year. From there, he could still potentially get into college. It was the only way his career could continue.

At Milford, another running back with grade issues suited up next to him. He’s still best friends with him today: NFL running back LeSean McCoy.

McCoy made it out. Reid, limited by injuries, was held back in his search to the professionals. His knee just wasn’t the same. He did however battle through the injuries and got a chance to join Grossmont College, a junior college in El Cajon, California. He was a two-time All-State Califonia Junior College award winner and was expected to go Division I from there. Once again, the expectations outweighed the production as he had fallen behind in the classroom again.

“I didn’t have the grades to get into DI,” Reid said. “I wasn’t focused and was worried about the wrong things — like girls and having fun.”

Despite the academic issues, he still got a scholarship to play at Division II Delta State in Cleveland, Mississippi to finish out his college years. But his stars just seemed out of alignment. There was no next thing. That was it. He returned home with a degree in communications after his collegiate football years were over.

“I’ll be honest. I was depressed in Riverhead,” Reid said. “I had to become and man and learn to live in the real world. I was working regular 9-5 jobs and I hated it. I had no backup plan.”

Reid kept working out and staying in shape hoping to get a chance again. He got a tryout with the Canadian Football League but didn’t make it. Again he tried out, and nothing.

“I knew it was over for me at that point,” Reid said. “Something that I was playing since I was a six-year-old kid was over. I have always been the best in everything I had done on the football field and all of a sudden I wasn’t good enough.”

Life in Riverhead just seemed to get him down.

“I was back home in Riverhead and I wasn’t playing football anymore,” Reid said. “A lot of people expected big things out of me. And when you don’t accomplish what’s expected, you feel like you’re a failure.”

And that’s exactly why Reid wanted to reach out to youth of Riverhead now.

“The football thing didn’t happen for me,” Reid said. “I really thought that if I didn’t play pro football that I’d never be a successful person. There’s kids that are in my shoes at Riverhead today that have the same dream. You have to have a backup plan. School is that backup plan. Once you get that degree, nobody can take that away from you.

Reid, who has turned into a fitness freak over the years, decided to move out to Los Angeles on a whim this April to pursue a career as a trainer.

“I could always come back to Riverhead,” Reid said. “But you’ve got to take chances in life. Otherwise I’ll always be haunted by what ifs.”

Rooming with a former teammate to start, he began looking for jobs.

“I surrounded myself with the right people,” Reid said. “I started really working out a lot and started to grasp and learn what fitness is and how to eat correctly. It’s all a part of bringing your body to the next level.”

Reid hooked up with Yaw Owusu Jr.,  an elite fitness trainer in Los Angeles. He trained at Velocity Sports Performance where athletes of the highest degree train and prepare for their upcoming seasons. He took a course there and earned a certification to be a personal trainer.

Not long after, he landed a job as a trainer at high-end luxury gym Equinox. And there in the gym, his life would soon change. While working out two months ago, he noticed a man staring at him from across the gym. The man approached Reid and asked: “Hey man, you play in the NFL?”

Reid laughed it off and told him that he had played in college.

“‘Cause dude,” the guy said, “your body is crazy.”

That man was Don Powers, a representative for EA Sports. He then asked if Reid would be interested in doing some commercials. Reid would be like a stunt guy to stand in as an NFL player in a commercial, wearing the full uniform.

“Most of those commercials you see with NFL players, nine out of 10 times, it’s not actually them,” Reid said. “You can’t see who it is through the helmet anyway.”

Reid did his first commercial on Monday where he played Frank Gore of the Indianapolis Colts and Jonathan Stewart of the Carolina Panthers. He has another commercial scheduled for Nike tomorrow for the upcoming Pan American games.

It’s just the start for Reid. He plans to pursue acting with the doors that were opened for him through these commercials. He’s also in talks to start his own brand: BBR. Body By Reid, which investors have taken interest in, will be a clothing line.

“I left my comfort zone to better my opportunity,” Reid said. “A lot of people in life are afraid to leave what they’re comfortable doing. Because of what? They’re scared that they’re going to fail.”

“If you don’t take a chance,” Reid continued. “How will you ever know if you’re able to succeed?”