Snapshot: Special Player

Fourth-year wide receiver and kick returner Joe Reed capped off his UVA career by being named the recipient of the 2019 Jet Award, which is presented to the nation’s top return specialist. The award was one of many accolades and honors he earned with his stellar performance this fall.

Reed was also a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award (nation’s top all-purpose player), and was tabbed as a first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America, the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Athlon Sports and Bleacher Report. He was a second-team pick by Sporting News, CBS Sports, SI.com and USA Today. In addition, he earned first-team All-ACC honors as an all-purpose player and kick return specialist, and also was named the Touchdown Club of Richmond’s Specialist of the Year.

In 2019, Reed led all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) players with a kick return average of 33.2 yards per runback and had two returns for touchdowns. He finished his Virginia career as the program’s all-time leader in kick return yards (3,042), kickoff returns (106), kick returns for touchdowns (five) and longest return (100 yards, tied for first). He is the only player in FBS history with 3,000-plus career kick return yards and a career return average of 28-plus yards. He is tied for ninth on the NCAA’s all-time list with five kickoff returns for scores and his total return yards (3,042) also rank ninth all time.

Among ACC players, Reed ranks second in conference history in kick return yards and is third in kickoff return average (28.7). He ranks fifth all time at UVA with 4,679 all-purpose yards.

Photo by Matt Riley/Courtesy UVA