Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9411240006
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S30 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
In the direction of his favorite target, split end Gregg Reynolds.
Padgett and Reynolds are one of the premier pass-catch combinations in the Timesland area and it's no accident. The two have been playing football together since the Pee Wee Leagues in Bedford.
This duo knows each other so well that sometimes they will send each other nonverbal signs - for example, Reynolds might tap his helmet - to let Padgett know that Reynolds is going to run a different route than what the play calls for in the Minutemen's offensive system.
``He finds a way to get open,'' the quarterback said. ``He'll give me a signal, somehow, to let me know he's going to run something different. If the defensive back is playing in, he'll let me know that he's going to run an out. If he's [the cornerback] playing outside, he'll run a slant.''
Reynolds reciprocated that Padgett knows his moves as well as anyone and puts the ball right where he wants it.
``We've been playing together so long, he knows when I'm going to make my cuts,'' the junior receiver said. ``He knows that if the defensive back is playing tight, to just throw it over his head.''
But in the early years, it was Reynolds who was throwing to Padgett. Both players laugh about the switch now, but the competitor in Reynolds came out when the switch first took place in the Junior Division of the local recreational league.
``Well, my arm was a little sore from playing baseball,'' Reynolds said jokingly.
Padgett noted that the switch took place in a passing drill before the start of the season.
``We've been playing together for eight years, I know,'' he said. ``Bedford Hokies, Bedford Blue Devils, Bedford Road Devils. He [Reynolds] was the quarterback. Last division before we got to high school, the Junior Division, we were running some pass patterns and the coaches liked the way I was throwing the ball back to them after I ran my routes. Then they asked me to come and throw some passes. They liked the way I threw. ... We switched positions, really.''
This tandem is one of the main reasons Liberty nearly made the playoffs for the first time last year. Padgett threw for 1,007 yards and seven touchdowns, five to Reynolds, while Reynolds, Timesland Sizzlin' Sophomore-of-the-Year in both football and basketball in 1993-94, caught 34 balls for 536 yards.
Through six games, senior Padgett is on pace to break the school's single-season passing record (1,303). He has thrown nine touchdowns and passed for 864 yards in completing 60 of 125 passes for 1,071 yards. He is No.1 in the area in passing.
Reynolds is No.2 in receiving with 25 catches for 433 yards.
The success that the two had while leading the team to a 7-3 record in 1993 happened only after an attitude adjustment by Padgett.
When Padgett was a sophomore, coach Mike Scharnus booted him off the team for disciplinary reasons. Scharnus says he cannot take credit for his star quarterback making the adjustment to becoming a very good quarterback and a productive citizen in the classroom.
``It was a self-made'' change, Scharnus said. ``It wasn't anything I did or the coaches - it was all him.''
Padgett said he was disappointed in himself for being kicked off the team and he knew he had to make personal changes.
``I was hanging out with a bad crowd, and I didn't have my mind on playing football,'' he said. He was ``really disappointed'' in himself and in not playing football.
``I said to myself, `I've got to prove something to somebody.' I didn't like looking at him [Scharnus] after I got kicked off.''
Last season, Padgett beat out the team's incumbent quarterback for the No.1 spot on the depth chart.
Now he has his mind on playing football, making good grades and getting his 700 on the Scholastic Assessment Test so he can go to college and play.
His coach believed before the season that Padgett definitely could play Division III college football; he still believes that.
``Mike's strength is his arm - very accurate, long, short or medium,'' the Minutemen coach said. ``He's 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, but he's a scrappy kid who doesn't mind mixing it up. He could play safety for us. Physically, if he gets stronger and gets better as a quarterback, he could play at a higher level.''
For Group AA sports, Reynolds just might be the Larry Bird of his time. He's not a physically imposing player, but his mind has allowed him to be a three-sports star. He has played on the varsity football team for two years and on the varsity basketball and baseball squads since he was a freshman.
``He has an awareness on the field,'' Scharnus said. ``He's doesn't have blazing speed but he is quick with his moves and when he has the ball. He has an awareness on the field of what defenses are doing and he's a good open-field runner. Whether if it's football, basketball or baseball, Gregg understands the game.''
The junior is a starter in all three sports. He plays shooting guard on the basketball team and shortstop on the diamond. So what's his best sports?
``Whichever sport is in season,'' he said matter-of-factly. ``I'll let the media be the judge of that.''
In college, he plans to play the sport that gives him the best opportunity. But ever since T-ball, when he was 6 years old, he has played the three sports year-round.
His teammates refer to him as ``Crazy Eight'' because of the way he plays as a defensive back. Well, that's one of the explanations.
``I'm not going to tell you the other reason,'' Padgett said.
It's the look on the 1993 seniors' faces, who didn't make it to the postseason, that motivates the duo. Both players have two goals for the season: to make the playoffs and see the offensive line get more recognition.
by CNB