Can former Navy star Reynolds stick with Seahawks?
Published 1:30 am Monday, August 6, 2018
By Mike Vorel
The Seattle Times
Keenan Reynolds isn’t allowed to tell you about his job.
Not his football job. His other job.
Not the one that allows him to run routes and catch passes from Russell Wilson, to continue pursuing a sport he started playing when he was 5. Not the one where more than 2,000 fans pack a hill in Renton to watch him work on a weekday morning. Not the one set to pay him $480,000 in 2018.
In his other job, in his other life, Lieutenant Junior Grade Keenan Reynolds is a cryptologic warfare officer in the United States Navy.
But what, exactly, does that mean?
“I can’t really give the details, to be honest with you,” the first-year Seahawks wide receiver said with a sympathetic smile. “Just … we’ll just say cyber.”
Here’s what else Reynolds can say. He can confirm that he attended the United States Naval Academy from 2012 to 2015, starring as a dual-threat quarterback in head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s unrelenting triple-option offense. He can show you the NCAA record books, where the 5-foot-10, 191-pounder holds national FBS records for rushing touchdowns (88) and rushing yards by a quarterback (4,559).
He can point you toward Navy’s 2018 football roster, where No. 19 is permanently omitted. That’s because, before he even graduated, Reynolds became just the fourth player to have his number retired by the United States Naval Academy, joining Roger Staubach, Joe Bellino and Napoleon McCallum.
Of course, LTJG Reynolds is far too humble to say those things.
But his former head coach is more than happy to.
“You recruit everybody hoping that they’re going to be a good player, but I don’t think any of us had any idea that Keenan would be that good and leave our program as the leading scorer in the history of college football,” Niumatalolo, Navy’s 12th-year head coach, told The Times on Friday. “We hoped he’d be good, but I’d be lying if I said I knew (he’d be that good).
“He’s as tough a competitor as I’ve ever been around and probably the smartest football player I’ve ever coached.”
Why, then, does the smartest and toughest player Niumatalolo has ever coached need to fight for a roster spot with the Seahawks? Why has he spent the past two seasons on the practice squads for Baltimore and Washington, never once appearing in a regular-season game?
Turns out, the NFL has little need for a triple-option quarterback — not even one with more collegiate rushing touchdowns than any player in the history of the sport.
And so, despite a seemingly endless list of accolades, Reynolds started all over. He made the move to wide receiver.
“The learning curve was steep early on, but fortunately I’ve had some great mentors that have played the position: Bobby Engram (my first coach), Steve Smith, Ike Hilliard,” said Reynolds, who was drafted as a receiver in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL draft despite having never previously played the position. “Those guys really helped me transition and add things to my game.
“Being here with (wide receivers coach) Nate (Carroll) and Doug (Baldwin) and B-Marsh (Brandon Marshall) and really all the other guys in our room, I’m looking at what they’re doing and trying to add that to my game. I’m always trying to add new tools to the toolbox.”
In the offseason, Reynolds — who wears No. 85 with the Seahawks — only has so much time to do that. Starting in late February, the 23-year-old reserve officer participated in the Information Warfare Basic Course (IWBC) — an eight-week training session — at the Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT) in Pensacola, Florida.
While his teammates were training for their job, he was training for his other job.
“I set it up to where as soon as the season’s over I try to take a week or so off, and then I hit it hard for the Navy for about two months, and then I ride right into the offseason (football) program,” Reynolds explained.
So here he is, on his third team in three years, fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster. And, with starting slot receiver Doug Baldwin sidelined for the near future with a knee injury, Reynolds has stepped in and taken advantage of the available reps.
On Saturday, in the second half of the Seahawks’ mock game, Wilson found an uncovered Reynolds across the middle for a 7-yard score. On cue, the Navy’s Blue Angels whizzed overhead on Lake Washington, engines roaring as they shot loudly across the sky.
On the ground, and in the air, the Navy made a big impression.
“Once he got out here, he reminded me of Baldwin when Baldwin was first out here, you know?” special teams coordinator Brian Schneider said of Reynolds last week. “They have the same type of movements, and he’s been great. He can return punts. He’s playing (personal protector) on our punt team, and we want to see him do a lot of different things because he’s a guy that can do a lot of things.”
Added Reynolds: “I’ve been talking to Doug (Baldwin). I’ve been in his ear after every play, trying to learn and critique every single play, because I always feel like I could be better.
“I have pretty lofty goals for myself. So I’m just fighting — fighting for an opportunity.”
For Reynolds, who Niumatalolo calls “a relentless competitor,” the fight is nothing new. The feeling is familiar.
“Discipline. Toughness. Being able to go through adversity,” Reynolds said of the lessons learned during his college career at Navy. “There’s a lot of ups and downs at the Academy. It’s not an easy place to be in school. You’re going to have down days. It’s how well you’re able to fight through that.
“That kind of sculpted my mentality, going into the league. I’ve fought through some adversity in the league, had some down days. But through that, I learned who Keenan really was. I learned who I am as a man.”
Just don’t try to learn who he is as a cryptologic warfare officer, because LTJG Reynolds isn’t talking.
