St. Joe's Prep's Reid building a winning future

YEARS FROM NOW, however long it takes, chances are you might become familiar with the name John Reid.

The 5-10, 190-pound senior for St. Joseph's Prep is a nationally touted cornerback headed to Penn State next year.

And, once his days as a Nittany Lion are complete, it's possible you could see him in a secondary on Sundays, or, you could simply be watching NFL football on a device the self-taught computer creator developed on his own.

Indeed, for the last 2 or 3 years, Reid says, he, his father and an uncle have been building a computer - from scratch.

If the difference between motherboards, hoverboards and shuffleboards evades you, don't worry. However, if you want to learn, perhaps all you need is some curiosity, a finely tuned focus and the desire to see something through.

"As much as people may think it's difficult, it's not really that difficult," Reid said during the Hawks' practice at Temple's Edberg-Olson practice facility. "There are so many tutorials online, so as difficult as it may sound I think anybody could do it, honestly.

"That's what interests me about computers. I didn't grow up a natural at it. It's something I take a lot of pride in and I've worked on for hours and hours. I've repped it out. Even with football and my catching; I was not the greatest at catching the football, but I worked at it. So I guess for me, the best thing I've done in life is to focus on stuff, work on it and do a lot of repetition even when I'm not the greatest at it."

Yahoo's scouting service, Rivals.com, ranks Reid as the top cornerback in the state. The four-star recruit is also rated the ninth-best corner in the country and No. 101 overall.

Notre Dame, Alabama, Miami, Michigan State and a slew of others vied for his services, but Penn State, its proximity to his home in Mount Laurel, N.J., plus its computer science and engineering programs swayed him.

"That's probably one of my second loves," he said. "I love everything with technology from coding to messing around with computers. That's the field I want to go into. My main goal, I want to make it to the NFL, but at the same time, I want to have a plan if that doesn't work out."

He's off to a good start, which began by asking his dad, John Reid Sr., if he wanted to build a computer. The pair had always bonded over video games anyway.

"It's not like we didn't see it coming, because he's always been so into computers, gaming and electronics in general," said John Sr., whose twin brother Billy also helps. "So, when he said it, I was like, 'Hey, why not?'

"I think as a dad you're always looking for new ways to hang out with your son."

The trio began with no formal training in electronics.

So, Reid logged hours online, talking to friends he made in the gaming community and watching tutorials. For start-up capital, he worked with the school's maintenance crew in the offseason. Birthday money and Christmas cash have also helped.

"I want to build a really, really good computer and that's not the cheapest thing to do, so it's going to take a while," he said.

His Frankenstein is a personal computer, because a laptop, he said, would require soldering things to this and that. Then there are graphics cards, processors and memory storage to consider.

His workstation is in his bedroom, where three different monitors connect to one tower as his comic book posters watch while the mad scientist works.

"I think what helps me is that I get really focused on things that I want to achieve, things I want to do," Reid said. "It's just a matter of focusing and me enjoying it. And in the process, I know it doesn't always seem like I'm enjoying it; people always say I don't usually smile when I'm doing things, but I enjoy working on things and working toward things.

"When I do something, I like to be competitive in it. I like to be the best I can, and a lot of that requires a high-quality computer that can run and do everything you want it to do."

Parallels to his success on the football field abound.

"Hard work will get you to the point where you want to be, and for me, that helps me with sports," he said. "Working on everything I need to improve on makes me a better player. And, I've equated that with computers. I'm constantly repping things out from memorizing coding to memorizing concepts. So, I've been able to equate my work with computers to football and it's naturally become something I enjoy doing."

You can bet another Catholic League title and Class AAAA state title would also be enjoyable.

However, a mind disciplined enough to build a computer from scratch is hard to tempt with thoughts of the future.

"[The key is] focusing on the task at hand and being where your feet are," Reid said, "which means staying in the moment and not thinking about the state championship, because we have a game this week against Roman."

Speaking of waiting on the finished product, Reid hopes to complete his computer by the end of school and take it to Penn State. If not, no sweat.

"I just wanted to experience something me, my dad and my uncle could do at the same time," he said, "you know, something fun."