SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- John Reid's friends thought the Nittany Lion cornerback was setting them up with an April Fool's joke.
"As funny as it sounds, I told some of my friends, 'Yo, I just hurt my knee real bad,' " Reid recalled Thursday at Fiesta Bowl media day, his first time addressing reporters since the injury. "They're like, 'Alright man, stop playing around.' I'm like, 'When am I gonna play around about something like that?' "
Reid sustained a season-ending left knee injury on April 1, sending him into rehab mode while the rest of his teammates were gearing up for a Big Ten title defense. For the starting cornerback whose passion for all things football -- from the physical demands, mental preparations and exhaustive film study that helped him learn the defense inside and out -- Reid's been forced to be patient this season.
The good news for Penn State is Reid said he's on pace to come back better than he was before, using this redshirt season to help teammates and work as the Nittany Lions' signal caller for games. Reid said he should be fine for spring ball, but certainly there won't be a need to push him along since Penn State knows what it has in the player who came in and contributed as a true freshman and then followed it up with a strong sophomore season. It's why the returning players in the secondary said this group won't miss a beat next season despite graduating both starting cornerbacks.
"The biggest thing for someone who has never gone through it before is you don't realize the type of patience you need," Reid said. "You expect things to happen like now, now, now, but there's some days where you'll start the rehab and you'll be real sore. Then, you'll wake up the next day and do stuff that you were not expecting to do for a couple months from now and you're just like, 'This is weird.'"
Reid had a familiar face working through the recovery process with him this season after starting defensive end Torrence Brown went down with a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter of the game against Georgia State. Brown, while he wouldn't specify details of what looked like a gruesome knee injury on Thursday, but he went through ACL rehabilitation before as a high schooler and told DKPittsburghSports.com that his rehab then helped him through this time around.
It was Penn State that stuck with Brown the first time around as scholarship offers evaporated when the ligament in his knee popped, and his second go around with a significant knee injury should come full circle at some point next season, he said. The Tuscaloosa, Ala. native estimated that he's about 50 percent healthy now and said he is doing some light jogging. He wouldn't put a timetable on a return, but does have Reid watching his every step.
"John Reid was one of the first ones who came up to me when I got hurt and said if I need to talk to him at any time to just let him know," Brown told me. "We both are helping each other out through this whole process."
The return of both next season should signify an improved pass rush and a deeper crop of cornerbacks for position coach Terry Smith to work through. Reid's embraced his role as a signaler during some games this year, joking that he told the coaching staff he's probably the best 4th-quarter caller they have. He'll happily trade in his headset and khakis as soon as possible though.
And that moment when he puts the pads back on and breaks up his first pass will be pretty emotional, Reid said. His next rehab milestone will come behind closed doors when he makes a late-night return to Holuba Hall where he plans to test out his coverage skills against teammate and friend DeAndre Thompkins. Those two regularly work out together at all hours and returning to that routine has been a driving force behind Reid's rehab.
"He keeps asking me about that," Reid said. "It's gonna be soon though. I told him, 'I gotta be on point before you all see me.' "