Detroit Lions’ running back Craig Reynolds, a 2014 graduate of Abington High School, returned to his alma mater last February and addressed the Ghosts’ football team, fielding questions from the players. Below is a transcript of portions of that session.
On Sunday, Reynolds will be on the sidelines opposite his hometown team when the Lions host the Philadelphia Eagles in their season opener.
Abington Senior High School Principal Angelo Berios
“It’s through his grit and determination under the tutelage of these fine coaches in the program and his academics that got him where he is today. Craig defied the odds and made it to the NFL through his heart and determination. When others may have doubted him, he didn’t accept that. He kept plowing ahead. For that, you’re an inspiration not only to our school but to all of us. The fact that he’s giving back to his alma mater, coming back and spending time with us is just truly inspirational to all of us.”
Former Abington football coach Tim Sorber
“It’s a great day. Craig probably has been involved in the Abington football program for a long time because back when Craig was in elementary school, we had a youth football camp, which Craig was a member of for several years. His father, Eric Reynolds Sr, was a Galloping Ghost football player, a 1,000-yard rusher at Abington. He went on to play at Delaware Valley and is still coaching there.
“Craig also was a ball boy for one of our opposing teams – his brother played for CB South. We were very fortunate that Craig stayed in the district, went to Willow Hill, went through the junior high program, played at Schwarzman Stadium. Craig’s career at Abington had a lot of peaks and valleys. Sophomore year I remember at a jayvee game at home against Cheltenham – he got pretty banged up with a leg injury His junior year he also had to face a little injury but really emerged later in the year as someone we knew was going to be a great player. His senior year we were 4-0, we were flying high, and our starting quarterback, Anthony Lee, against Council Rock North had a season-ending leg injury. We were all depressed, we were upset because Anthony Lee was a big part of our offense, a big part of our team. We were 4-0, we were ranked in the top 10 in the Inquirer, and it was upsetting.
“I think a true test of someone’s character shows up not when things are really good but when things are down there in the valley, and that’s when Craig really literally – I would say and coach (Kevin) Conlin I think would agree - took the entire team on his back. It was real simple for me to call plays, give it to him - power right, power left. That’s when he really emerged. He was a good player before, but that’s when he became a special player because he took that team on his back, and we ended up going to the final four in District 1, we ended up with 10 wins. He had over 2,000 yards rushing, 30 touchdowns.
“Those statistics are pretty impressive but the thing I will always remember how – in the face of adversity – he took an entire team on his back. Some of the best players on the team were offensive linemen. You watched our games in 2013, and when he scored a touchdown, he had five offensive linemen usually picking him up because they wanted to block for him, they wanted to give an extra effort to block for him because he always gave the extra effort. He always gave the credit to the offensive line. That’s the type of player he was.
“After high school, he faced adversity. He had some Division 1 teams come in recruit him, no offers. He went to Division 2 which obviously was a disappointment for him initially. At Kutztown, he redshirted his first year and then became a four-year starter - wide receiver for one year and then running back and then arguably became the best running back in Kutztown history.
When people asked me – does Craig Reynolds have the ability to play in the NFL, I always said, ‘I think he does, but what’s going to lift him to NFL is not necessarily his ability – it’s his desire, his work ethic and his belief in himself. He wasn’t given anything. If you know anything about NFL football, when you’re an undrafted player, it’s doubly hard. He willed this, he said, ‘I’m going to become an NFL football player.’
“If you talked to the Kutztown coaches, he was up there in the freezing cold at Kutztown working out, trying to make himself better. The success he had (last) year with the Lions…I’ll tell you one thing - he’ll have the desire to get even better for 2022. That’s why he’s here today. That’s why you should look at Craig Reynolds and put him on a pedestal because he’s gone through the same fields you and I have gone through, but when somebody tells you no, you can’t do something or your face adversity, you don’t put your head down. You work through it, you have an inner desire, and you have a confidence in yourself that I can achieve my goals and my dreams. That’s why Craig is here, that’s why he’s going to continue to have a great NFL career.”
Detroit Lions’ running back Craig Reynolds, Class of 2014 Abington High School
“It’s crazy how life comes full circle. I see some of my teachers in the back. Putting football aside, in life in general, school, whatever hobbies you want to pursue, your career, I’d say it’s discipline. Don’t let your circumstances define you. It’s easy to find excuses, it’s very easy to find excuses. For me in my pursuit of what I wanted to do – eventually play in the NFL – there’s a lot of people that are going to tell you no in life. There’s a lot of times you can press the snooze alarm and take the easy way out – ‘I’m not going to do this,’ or ‘I don’t feel like it.’ But at the end of the day, your future self will always thank you. Football aside, that’s life, that’s goals, whatever you want to do, whatever your dreams are – continue to pursue them.
“I’m standing here – I’m 5-9, 210 pounds. I’m not the biggest athlete, I’m not the strongest dude on the field. They don’t measure heart, and that’s where I feel I have an advantage on the field, doing things that my opponents or teammates aren’t willing to do. That’s something I’ve been built on since I’ve been in middle school and high school.
“Everybody’s path is different, and my motto is – ‘Why not me?’ Why couldn’t I be the guy to make it to the NFL from Abington? I just hope to be a motivation to you guys, not just in football but schoolwork, academics, whatever your hobbies are, whatever your interests, whatever your goals might be. Set a goal, make a plan and pursue the plan all the way until you achieve your goal, and as soon as you get that goal, make another one. Stay consistent, stay hungry, and whatever you do with your family and friends, have a good support group around you. Stay focused, locked in.
“One thing my special teams coach in Atlanta told me, ‘Be where your feet are.’ Don’t think about tomorrow, don’t think about what’s happening next. I’m right here with you guys giving you a speech. I’m not here concerned with what’s happening tomorrow. I’m here – I’m focused, locked in on you guys, and in life, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing – whether you’re in the classroom or on the football field on Friday nights, whatever it is – be locked in, have elite focus, and when you put your mind to something you can do anything. I just hope I can be a motivation to you guys to pursue your goals and dreams. You have a great foundation, you have a great school here, you have great opportunities – take advantage of everything. It’s a blessing.
“It’s awesome to be here . I wouldn’t be here without Abington High School and your support. This whole journey – whether I was in Kutztown or going team to team in the NFL and now landing in Detroit, it’s definitely a blessing. I just want to say thank you. The faculty, my teachers that are here that I used to have and had to deal with me growing up - look where I am now. Thank you, guys – I wouldn’t be here without the love and support of my Abington family.”
Q&A with Craig Reynolds
What was the toughest time for you? Did you ever think I can’t do this or was it always that determination that kept you going?
“I’d say the toughest time for me was when I graduated from Kutztown. I was taking job interviews. I graduated with a degree in business marketing, and I didn’t know what was going to happen next. It was kind of a leap of faith kind of deal. I talked to my dad, I talked to people that thought I could do it, maybe I could do it. At that point, I just said, ‘Why not? Why not me? I might as well give it a shot.’
“I was blessed with opportunities to go out there and prove myself in front of NFL management, and I made the Washington football team on a tryout basis. I was given the opportunity to go there. That day when I got there – it was football players from all over the country – D1, it didn’t matter what school, and I was the only person to show up in a suit. I had no idea, I treated it like a job interview, so I showed up in a purple suit. Everyone looked at me sideways, but I guess I had a little bit of a lasting impression, and from there, I kept going and just being where my feet were, focusing on the now and what I can do to help myself in the future.
What was it like when you finally realized your dream and you’re on the field playing meaningful minutes at Detroit last year?
“It was surreal. The first game when we went out to Denver to play the Broncos, I knew I was going to be getting legit time and legit carries. I didn’t know to what extent. Coming out of the tunnel and just seeing a huge stadium packed with people – I’d never played in front of anything like that before. If you know Kutztown, I’m pretty sure Schwarzman Stadium might be bigger than Kutztown’s stadium, but at the end of the day, it just became football. After you get hit once, it’s football at that point.”
Do you have any goals for (this) season?
“My biggest goal is to stay healthy obviously, not get complacent and then set goals where I want to be in the fall – I just want to make the Detroit Lions better and I want to make myself better. If I make myself better, I make the running back group better. If I make the running back group better, I’ll make the offense better. If I make the offense better, the team gets better, and that’s the main goal – just control what I can. Football is a team sport. You can’t do anything alone, so if I’m pushing my teammates, staying after practice doing whatever I can, just striving to get better every day.”
Did you run track when you were in high school?
“I ran track my freshman year, and I want to say – if I have regrets in my career in football, I’d say not running track my entire high school career is one of my biggest regrets. Competing in track is huge, it’s helpful. I’ve talked to so many other athletes that I played with at the college and NFL level that did run track, and they say it was a huge help. I wish I did, but I didn’t. I focused on lifting, and I was hurt the one offseason with my knee, so it was kind of tough to get back after that, but I wish I did stay more consistent with running track, for sure.”
What was the college recruiting process like?
“Recruiting for me - I had the Division 1 dream, but at the end of the day, you have to point the thumb, not the finger, so I had to look at myself and say, ‘Why weren’t Division 1 schools wanting me?’ So if I wasn’t fast enough, I wasn’t big enough – whatever it was and turn it into something I can control and I can fix. It didn’t happen, but at that point, when it didn’t happen, the goal was to play college football and get an education. I wasn’t concerned at all with the NFL. I just wanted to keep playing football and do what I love to do. I just wanted to focus on what I could.
“There was always outside chatter – ‘You should go D1’ or people would say – ‘You can’t,’ but just focus on the man in the mirror and do what I know how to do, and that’s continue to work and strive and let the chips fall where they may.”
What were the hardest NFL teams you’ve gone against?
“Shoot, it’s the NFL. Everybody’s good. Nothing comes easy out there. When you look at the TV, I’m the smallest person out there the majority of the time. It sounds redundant, but I’m just controlling what I can – that’s studying, knowing what I’m doing on every play. When you know what you’re doing, you can play faster out on the field.
“Every defense is going to be tough, every special teams unit is hard. It’s fast out there, it’s physical, but it’s part of the game. I know I belong out there, I know I can do those things. Just fall back on your training and technique, and that will never fail you. That’s the biggest thing.”
Do you have a favorite game in your high school career?
“I don’t know. It would probably be our game against Garnet Valley (a 26-21 upset win by eighth seeded Abington over the top-seeded Jaguars in a District 1 AAAA quarterfinal. Reynolds ran for 176 yards and two TDs). But the crazy thing is I focus more on the things I messed up. Cheltenham my senior year (a 35-34 loss) – I fumbled a QB sneak that could have sealed the game on fourth-and-one, and we didn’t get it. I think about that more than anything else. That still haunts me, so I’d say I think more about the bad things, the things I messed up more than the good things, but Garnet Valley was a great experience.”
Do you have a favorite memory along your journey?
“There are so many – I’ve been blessed. It would probably be my first college game. They told me a week before I’d be playing receiver, and I had no idea what I was doing out there. I was literally being told what I was doing from the sideline as I was playing. I ended up playing well, but that whole going into the game nervous and not knowing what was going to happen. I’m pretty sure I might even have thrown up before the game – I was so nervous. I didn’t know what was going to happen, playing out of position. I ended up playing well. I had over 100 yards, but I feel like that was the biggest confidence boost in college, knowing I could play at a high level no matter what the circumstances were. I would say that was probably my favorite memory. We came up short in that game, but just going out there – it was the first game of the season. That’s one of my favorite ones.”
What was your favorite play from last season?
“That’s hard because there was a bunch. It has to be from the Arizona game (a 30-12 Detroit win. Reynolds ran for 112 yards). That game was awesome because Arizona was a really good team at that point in the year. They were flying high. They came into Detroit, and we just wanted to go out there and take it to them from the first play and show them it wasn’t what they thought it was. That whole game was just a crazy experience. I can’t point out one play – maybe sealing the game on a run, killing the clock and knowing it was going to be hard for them to come back. I’d say that was it, knowing it was an upset of one of the best teams in the league at the time.”
What NFL running back did you look up to the most?
“Growing up – I don’t know if you guys remember Arian Foster who played for the Texans. I loved his game so much. I’d probably say him. Especially in high school because I was coming up, and that’s when he was really in his prime. I used to always watch his tape. You guys remember Danny Kohles? That’s my best friend right there. We would always watch his tape and simulate what he did out on the field. He could catch the ball, run the ball, pass block, run block – it didn’t matter. He just did whatever his team needed him to do.”
Who’s your favorite teammate?
“That’s hard to say. You meet so many great guys from all over the country that play at all these schools. I can’t pinpoint one. I’ve been blessed to learn and develop behind great running backs, guys that work hard that I try to steal certain things like their work ethic. I played with Adrian Peterson, and he showed me so many things. Chris Thompson was a running back I looked up to as a teammate, and he taught me so much. Dare Ogunbowale was in Jacksonville. He’s a great dude. He’s been helping me still to this day when I’m in Detroit with special teams and running back. The running backs I’m around now – Jamaal Williams, D’Andre Swift, Jermar Jefferson…It’s hard to say when you meet so many great humans along the journey, being on all these teams.”
What was going through your head when you found out you made it to the NFL?
“It’s hard to say because you don’t want to get caught up in the moment where you get complacent because in the NFL it’s so cutthroat, and you don’t know when your career could be over, whether it’s a team saying they don’t want you anymore, or you could get hurt out there or whatever, so it’s a blessing. I just try and stay in the moment and continue to work hard. Any opportunity I get – you never know when your opportunity is going to come, whether it’s football or in life, and just being ready in all moments. My opportunity came last season, and it caught me off-guard, so it’s just staying ready and being locked in and laser focused at all times because in the NFL – you never know what’s going to happen.”
How do you spend your free time outside of football?
“I train a lot. If I’m not doing anything for a month or so after the season, I might go travel with my buddies from college, or I game - I play video games, so that’s how I spend some of my time.
“Nowadays, I’m starting to look for life after football, so I’m meeting with people – opportunities after the game. I’m really focused on getting into real estate. That’s something I’ve really gotten into when I’m not pursuing my football dream and worried about training. That’s something I’m looking into for life after the game.”
Is it hard to balance everything in your life?
“It definitely is. There’s a lot of people that tug at you or want you here or want to do this, but you have to find what’s important to you and what’s going to help you in the future. That’s how I look at it, but for me, if you helped me get to where I’m at, I would be around to help you or do whatever you want to do or whatever it is.
“During the football season, it’s definitely hard because you have a full work day, and you come home and you have to recover, you have to study. It’s a lot of studying, and during the season 99 percent of my day is football. There’s not much to balance. That’s pretty much all I do six months out of the year. Outside of that, just do what makes you happy. I’ve picked up golf – I’m terrible, but I tried golf, so I’m going to try and get better at that.”
Did you ever lose hope that you’d make it to the NFL?
“To be honest, yeah, but the biggest thing for me was falling back on the principles I’ve built and just controlling what I could. If somebody is telling me no, I know I gave it my all, 100 percent. That’s going to happen, there’s always going to be obstacles. It’s easy for some people to do that – take no for an answer, it’s not working out, but it’s definitely hard mentally, but you have to stay laser focused. I know I sound redundant when I say that, but whatever your dream or your pursuit is, that’s what you’ve got to do. There’s going to be peaks and valleys. Just stay hungry.”
What was your biggest adjustment from college to the NFL?
“Not being the biggest person on the field anymore. At Kutztown, I was one of the bigger people. In the NFL, I’m looking up at everybody. Physically, I’d say the speed of the game, and mentally, just learning plays. You get a play from your quarterback, and it’s two paragraphs worth of information, and you have to dissect what you’re doing and what everyone else is doing. You only get 24 seconds, the quarterback only says it one time in the huddle, and then you have fans screaming, so mentally, that part.”
There are distractions – what’s your advice to student-athletes?
“School obviously is the most important thing. My father instilled that in me when I was young. I’m pretty sure I got a bad grade once, and he pulled me off the practice field. You can’t be out there without academics. Finding something outside of football that will keep you on the right path but takes you away from the game because you can’t be all in on football. I’d say three things – school, a hobby of some sort and football. Don’t let anyone distract you. Whatever your dreams are – I don’t know personally what your dreams are, what you want to do or where you want to go to school, but continue to maintain focus on that goal. Don’t let outside situations, friends or family distract you from what you’re trying to pursue.”
How do you eliminate distractions?
“I was so locked in on wanting to play in the NFL when I got to college. When I was in high school, I was so locked in on wanting to play in college. I just kept trying to find something else that I was chasing. My senior year I did well, and for me, it wasn’t – I’m done now, I’ve made it. It was always – what’s next for me? I try to take that same next step – I’m not in academics, but now I’m looking at what I want to do after football or outside of football. On the football field, the same thing – just keep getting better. Just take the next step, the next step. It’s like an endless pursuit of being the best version I can be of myself.”
What was your biggest motivation throughout your career?
“Proving myself right. I knew what I wanted to do and what I was capable of. The situations may not have been in my favor, whether it was high school, college or the NFL, but I knew at the end of the day what my talents were and what I’m capable of. That’s still something I strive for now. I would say I feed off doubters – I definitely look at that as part of my motivation as well. Not proving them wrong, just proving myself right is the way I look at it.”
What were some things you did growing up to keep your body right for football?
“Stretching, yoga – I use so much on YouTube. It’s free, you can search anything. If my hamstring’s bothering me, I look on YouTube for stretches and exercises that can help you get better. If you’re not injured and you’re just trying to maintain your body so it doesn’t happen, just find different things – cold tubs, stretching. You can’t get enough stretching. Find little things because nobody likes getting hurt, nobody likes being on the sidelines, so do those kind of things, and find time to take care of yourself.”
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