Wide receiver Reed gunning for a strong finish to his Cougar career

Darnell Dickson - Daily Herald | Thursday, August 14, 2008, 2:00 am

The clock is ticking for BYU senior wide receiver Michael Reed. After BYU's 17-16 Las Vegas Bowl win over UCLA in December, Reed took a break and went home to Baytown, Texas. While there, he thought about the fact he had just one more year of college football remaining. "I was thinking that this is it for me," he said. "My years at BYU have flown by. I was thinking about the things I've accomplished and the things I still need to accomplish. I look at this team and say to myself, 'Hey I'm a senior. How great would it be to go undefeated and be a part of that?' " That's Reed: He's always dreamed big. Before his sophomore season, he said one of his goals was to lead the league in receiving. While he's put up decent stats in his three years (87 receptions, 1,060 yards, eight touchdowns) he's mostly earned his reputation as a receiver who's not afraid to go over the middle and someone who can often make spectacular catches. During fall camp he's been Max Hall's go-to guy, since No. 1 receiver Austin Collie is nursing a stress fracture. "We all hope Austin gets back real soon because he's such a big part of our offense," Reed said. "But it's opened doors for younger players like (former Timpview standout) Luke Ashworth, O'Neill Chambers and Spencer Hafoka to show coaches what they can do. Things are looking good right now. I'm just excited for this year." Head coach Bronco Mendenhall has been watching the young receivers closely. "The last three days Luke has made a strong push in terms of confidence and knowledge of assignments," he said, "adding finishing plays with it. What I've seen is that most likely he'd be after Austin and Mike." The BYU offense has opened things up a little in the second week of fall camp and has been finding the end zone regularly in practice. "The offense has been picking it up," Reed said. "We have a few guys here with experience. The offensive line is doing an outstanding job for the quarterback, running backs and receivers." When Collie, who has 109 receptions in two seasons, gets healthy, BYU will pretty much be at full strength offensively. "We can be as good as we want to be," Reed said. "There's only so much our coaches can teach us about the plays, then it's up to us. If we just come together each day, the sky's the limit with this team."