Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1179560
P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> team strength going into the season, and its two veteran cornerbacks were among the reasons for all the optimism. So far, that optimism has proven justified. "We think that we've got two of the bet- ter corners in the country," coach James Franklin said. "Not just the conference, but the country, and they are playing with a lot of confidence right now. They are re- ally playing well in both the run and pass game." Reid has taken a businesslike approach to his job in the sec- ondary – and to life in general. When he enrolled at Penn State, he didn't bother bringing a TV because he had no intention of watching anything other than game film and maybe streaming a movie or TV show every once in a while. He did bring the computer that he had built himself during high school. It had come together one part at a time. When Reid had saved up enough money, he would buy a new component. The re- sult was a machine that was powerful enough for the kind of game-intensive computing that Reid wanted to do, and after showing an affinity for hardware, he moved on to software, studying artificial intelligence and machine learning at Penn State. Reid earned a spot in the univer- sity's Summer Research Opportunities Program, and this past summer he in- terned at Intel in Portland, Ore. The fifth-year senior is likely to have ample opportunities to work in his chosen field when he's done playing football, but he might not be done playing football for a while. There's still nearly half a season of college ball to play, and after that he'll likely have shot at the NFL. As of this writing, WalterFootball.com was listing him 24th among cornerback prospects in the upcoming draft, while DraftTek.com had him 38th. Franklin said he "couldn't be happier" for Reid as he enjoys the payoff for his diligent off-the-field work, which in- cluded a year-long rehab process follow- ing a knee injury that forced him to miss the 2017 season. "He's a guy who has really built his en- tire career the right way. He's a man- made guy," Franklin said. "He's earned everything that he's gotten, and I'm just really happy for him. I think this year, he's just going to continue to grow. He is play- ing at a really high level right now and is extremely confident, can run with peo- ple, can tackle. He's got tremendous in- stincts and studies the game as [thoroughly] as anybody. So I'm really pleased with him." Castro-Fields joined Reid in University Park in 2017. The Baltimore native was one of the last players to commit to Penn State's recruiting class that year, and as he admitted recently, he was deeply con- flicted as he weighed offers from the Nit- tany Lions and from his home-state Ter- rapins. Even when he sat down to make his announcement, a pair of ball caps from the two schools resting on the table in front of him, he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do. "It was a stressful day," Castro-Fields said. "A lot of things went into it. I didn't make the decision until about, I don't know, 2:30. I went back and talked to my coach about it, and I finally knew. I de- cided when I picked up the hat." Castro-Fields played in 12 games as a true freshman, making 10 tackles and forcing a fumble that set up a touchdown STOPPED SHORT Cas- tro-Fields tackles re- ceiver Lemaro Smith Jr. during Penn State's 45-13 win over Buffalo in September. Through seven games, the jun- ior cornerback was fifth on the team with 31 tackles. Photo by Steve Manuel