Joe Reed wins Jet Award as nation’s best kick returner

Virginia Football’s Joe Reed added another accolade to the list as the fourth year was named recipient of the JET Award, given to the nation’s top return specialist.

Reed averaged a nation’s best 33.2 yards per return, and returned two kicks for touchdowns this season (William and Mary, Duke). He will leave Virginia with a program’s best 3,042 return yards, 106 kick returns, five return touchdowns, and longest return (tied at 100 yards, naturally).

Over his career, he was the only Football Bowl Subdivision player with over 3,000 kick return yards and career average of 28+ yards per return.

The Jet Award is named after former Heisman Award winner Johnny “The Jet” Rodgers. Rodgers heaped praise on Reed when announcing him as this year’s winner. “The one we have this year, he’s a beast,” Rodgers said on Severe and Benning radio show.

You can listen to the segment here.

Former winners of the Jet Award include Arkansas’ Joe Adams (2011), West Virginia’s Tavon Austin (2012), Stanford’s Ty Montgomery (2013), Kansas State’s Tyler Lockett (2014), Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey (2015), USC’s Adoreé Jackson (2016), Washington’s Dante Pettis (2017) and Utah State’s Savon Scarver (2018).

Reed was also named First Team All-ACC as both an All-Purpose player and Kick Returner, and garnered several first and second team All-American nods. As Virginia fans already know, Reed also excelled as a wide receiver. He finished first on the team in receptions (77) and touchdowns (7), and third in yards (679).

Next up, Joe Reed will prepare for the 2020 NFL Draft.