REEVES FINDS COMFORT ZONE
LONGVIEW - Jazz Reeves knows all about sacks. He knows how to prevent them from happening to his quarter, and - as a former defensive lineman. He knows how to collect them.

Then there are the sacks his slings around during the summer with fellow Longview offensive lineman Bryce Redman.

"We worked at a feed store together. We would carry three 50-pound bags on our shoulders at a time. I don't know how many we would move around, maybe hundreds in a day," Reeves said. "We would compete on who could move the most. One side of the offensive line is always completing against the other."

This friendly competition also helped Reeves make a transformation from defense to offense.

Reeves was a standout defensive tackle for the Lobos a year ago, but this season he moved to right offensive tackle. The move has helped the Lobos advanced to the Class 4A Division I state title game against Lake Travis.

Had fate not stepped in, Saturday's game might have been Reeves' second trip to a state-title game.

Reeves recorded 35 tackles and three sack sin 2007, but in a Week 10 game against Mesquite Horn he suffered a broken bone in his left forearm that required a metal plate and screws to help heal. Reeves missed the playoffs because of the injury. The Lobos were able to advance to the Class 5A Region II final, but in that game against Plfugerville, the Lobos allowed 369 rushing yards in a 35-14 defeat.

"I wish we could have had Jazz against Plfugerville because of the way he stops the run," Longview coach John King said. "He's a big, tough kid at the line of scrimmage."

In the offseason however, King picture him on the other side of the line.

King said because of Reeves' solid footwork - as well as the emergence of Chris Knighton, Bubba Vactor and Jeremiah Farley as defensive lineman - he asked Reeves to make a change before spring practice.

"At first, I was a little angry, but I would it for the team," Reeves said. "It took me a couple weeks to get over it."

Reeves was robbed of time to learn his new position when an ankle injury kept him out of the majority of spring practice and the spring game.

In order to make up for lost time, Reeves asked returning offensively linemen Vinny Portley and Redman as many questions as he could. He said Portley taught him one lesson quickly.

"Get low. That's what Vinny taught me. I had to get off the ball at a lower angle," Reeves said. "Before I learned that, I got knocked back a lot."

Redman said while slinging sacks around helped with strength, their summertime job was more beneficial because it taught them how to keep working hard in hot conditions.

Redman said a finer point he taught Reeves was more about speed than strength.

"We worked on getting off faster at the snap of the ball," Redman said. "We would compete against each other in that, too."

King said Reeves' intelligence, reflected in a recent score of 21 on the ACT, has also helped him. Reeves said he has received college attention from Duke, Texas State and Northwest Missouri State, but King said he wouldn't be surprise if colleges come after Reeves as much for academics as for football

According to King, it didn't take long for Reeves to be dependable on offense.

"He was still learning in the Allen game, but a lot of our players were that game," the coach said, referring to the season opener. "When we played Tyler Lee fate next week, he had it down."

Reeves has helped pave the way for a Longview offense that averages 409.5 yards per game and 57 touchdowns. Arguably, his top moment was creating a hole for Tyler McCray's overtime touchdown run in longview's 43-42 win over Waco Midway in the Region II final. Reeves also gets occasional playing time at his old defensive tackle position. ,p> Yet when it comes down between making sacks or preventing them, he'll take the latter.

"This has turned out good," Reeves said. "I didn't know at first what to think about it, but now, I'm glad I moved to the offense."