JT Reed
Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services
Bobcat Offensive Lineman JT Reed Follows Winding Path to MSU Graduation Ceremony
5/9/2025 8:33:00 AM | Football
Perseverance has helped define Reed
BOZEMAN, Mont. (May 6, 2025) – JT Reed hasn't spent much time thinking about how it will feel when he crosses the stage in Worthington Arena today.
"I worked hard for this certificate," he said of the bachelor's degree in Family Science that he'll earn from Montana State's College of Education and Health and Human Development on Friday. "But this is what I'm supposed to do, so it's not that big of a deal. But to them, you know, it is a big deal."
"Them" is Reed's family, his 'village,' as he sometimes calls it, primarily from California, that has supported him throughout a journey that taken him from the Bay Area to Bozeman and back a couple of times, through many great times and some difficulties, and to Montana State University's Spring Commencement Ceremony Friday afternoon.
"He's a sharp guy," says Montana State head football coach Brent Vigen, "but he's had to work at school. When you throw his first couple of years into it, starting here and then going to a junior college, I think he's definitely had to put in the work to get to this point. And I know he's really excited about graduating and the value of that degree, and I know that it's not only important to him but his family."
His family means everything to Reed, but for all those that will congregate on the MSU campus this weekend to watch him graduate it will be one who isn't there that has helped defines Reed's growth into adulthood. "Toni Reed was a large man," says Joshua Taufalele, a former Bobcat offensive line coach and Reed's cousin, who began the recruitment process before relocating to Boise, Idaho. "(JT is) doing this to make his family proud, and when I say his family I mean his mom and especially his dad, who isn't here to see it."
Toni Reed passed away the day after Christmas when JT was 10 years old. "JT has been the man of the family," Taufalele said, "since he was 10 years of age, no one can fathom that, so for him to fulfill this dream of his father, his mother, is very special."
JT Reed calls his relationship with Taufalele "like a little brother." For a time their families lived together in a relative's home, and when Reed's football career made him a recruitable offensive lineman Taufalele took notice. "No. 1, I knew how much the kid loves football," he said. "His tape was raw in terms of fundamentals and (skill), but he demonstrated he was tough and smart and athletic and I figured he would grow because of his dad's size. Army (Brian Armstrong, who both preceded and succeeded Taufalele as MSU's offensive line coach) finished the recruiting process."
Reed's path to Worthington Arena for Friday afternoon's ceremony, though, wasn't straight. "He got Covid like his first week here," Armstrong said of Reed's early time at MSU in the fall of 2020, "so he basically got banished to (Family Housing) all by himself. I just felt terrible for the kid."
So Armstrong implemented a simple plan to keep Reed engaged and active. "I picked him up every afternoon when he got feeling a little better and I'd take him out the woods and I'd make him hike. He always acted like he was happy to go do something, but I know he hated it."
Nature walks aside, Reed credits Armstrong for helping him make it though those early difficulties. "Coach Army helped me a lot," Reed said, citing extra time at study tables and regular monitoring. "He would have weekly (academic) check-ins, sometimes it would be every day, and he just wouldn't let me slip. He believed in me. On the football field I (had confidence), but in school, that's where I didn't. Coach Army played a huge role in showing me, 'Hey, you're not stupid. You can do this.' I think he's the first person who made me believe that and made sure that I did take school seriously."
After the fall semester in 2020, Reed stayed near his home in San Jose and enrolled at the College of San Mateo. A year in the junior college ranks, Reed said, "forced me to grow up."
The football experience was positive, Reed said, but the year involved rigors. "Football-wise it's probably one of my favorite experiences of my career, not better than here, obviously, but I loved JUCO. It teaches you a lot of different things."
High on that list was structure and time management. "I played football and did school (on-line) and had to have a full time job. I worked at Chik-fil-A, and my schedule was the same as here. I'd get up at like 5 or 5:30, and San Mateo wasn't far from San Jose but with traffic it was like an hour drive, and then on the way back sometimes it would take two hours. So I'd get there, lift, school, practice in the afternoon, then race back and go to work."
Continued academic progress, an impressive 2021 season, and Armstrong's urging rekindled the mutual interest between Reed and the Bobcat football program. "Brian had a chance to work with him and really thought that he had the makings of a good offensive lineman," said Vigen, who arrived at MSU in February, 2021. "He was on our radar to bring him back. His season of playing at San Mateo was good, we had a chance to watch that, and it was just a matter of getting him back here in January of '22. Because of (his previous semester at MSU) integrating back into the program was pretty seamless."
Reed eventually landed a role as starting guard in 2022, earning Third Team All-Big Sky honors and playing in 13 of MSU's 14 games. But then the injuries started, costing him all but one game in 2023 and the first three games of 2024. Once he returned he played 11 of 12 games and performed well.
While Reed's academic major has led him to study the U.S. health care system, he could just as easily have produced a capstone project detailing change as life's only constant. He has played for two head coaches at Montana State, and welcomed his third different offensive line coach this spring.
Matt Smith sees in Reed the same qualities as his predecessors. "He's a great, great guy in the (offensive line) room," said Smith, who also worked with Armstrong at Fresno State. "I love coaching him. He just works his tail off, which is awesome. The good thing about JT is he's played a good amount of football and he's had his struggles, so I think he has a good appreciation for the game and what it means to him, and he loves it a lot. He's a smart football player."
Reed has taken the changes over his five-plus years at MSU in stride – "I think it all goes back to how you treat life, and I think being comfortable isn't good," he says – but there was one new element he found harder adapting to than anything else. "I remember thinking, 'What are we doing?'" Reed says of his first taste of Vigen's double-rep practice system that utilizes twice the number of plays in the normal amount of time. "'Like, this isn't football, this is hell.' It was definitely hard, but I got used to it fast."
The oldest player in MSU's current offensive line room, Reed is also the last original member of the Don Joy Mafia. That is the name the group chose for itself several years ago honoring the brand of knee brace the group dons which embodies the group's leading characteristics – "Family, toughness, willingness to do the small things," Reed said. "As soon as you sign here, as soon as you commit here to play O-line, you have to live by that standard, whether that be here, whether that be at home, in the classroom, at work, wherever it may be. We're one clique, a big band of brothers."
Family is a common theme for Reed. He grew up in a household with one brother and five sisters and said that kind of diversity helped prepare him for an offensive line position group with players from more than 10 different states during his time. "It was a loud household, mercy," he said. "Loud. And the different smells."
He began playing football when he was five but also loved basketball, and his father introduced him to rugby. He played on a U12 team when he was nine because of his size. "Which honestly kind of sucked," he says with a laugh.
With Taufalele serving has his entry point into college football, Reed has thrived in Bozeman. "You can map out your plan," Taufalele said, "but the big man above will laugh at that. He has the way for everyone. During recruiting, Coach (Jeff) Choate (Montana State's head coach at the time) told him, 'Don't find a school, find a home.' Bozeman's been the place that gave him a chance, the place where he's been pushed outside his comfort zone and now he continues to elevate his ceiling. Bozeman's been everything JT has needed in this chapter of his life."
Montana State has also offered Reed a proving ground academically. "I think there's definitely been times I didn't think I was going to make it academically," he said. "My freshman year, my sophomore year, it was tough. Ever since then, I've been on a good track. Jamie (Rizzuto, MSU's Associate Athletic Director for Student Services) and the staff in the AC (Academic Center) have helped me so much. Just being there, having the AC to study in, because if I go home, I'll play video games. So I have to go sit in the AC by myself, no music, just do homework. That's been very beneficial and, honestly, them having their academic meetings with the coaches and not sugarcoating my work has been great."
On the field, Reed and the Bobcat coaching staff looks forward to a healthy 2025 season from Reed. He can play either guard spot, and has worked on snapping. "He has that experience to be able to play both center and guard," Smith said. "Being able to work on (snapping) this spring was crucial. He's one of the alphas in the (offensive line) room. The guys look up to him. He's the guy we want to count on this fall."
The people that have seen him along the journey at Montana State are proud of him. "He's going to graduate from here," Vigen said, "and his growth through a lot of tough times and setbacks really transformed him into a very mature, appreciative, well-spoken leader."
Plenty of people who appreciate and look up to Reed will be in Worthington Arena on Friday when he makes the walk across the stage, coming out the other side as his immediate family's first college graduate. Taufalele looks forward to being there and cheering him on.
"He's been through so much," Taufalele said, "and it means so much to his family. We can't be more proud of him."
#GoCatsGo
"I worked hard for this certificate," he said of the bachelor's degree in Family Science that he'll earn from Montana State's College of Education and Health and Human Development on Friday. "But this is what I'm supposed to do, so it's not that big of a deal. But to them, you know, it is a big deal."
"Them" is Reed's family, his 'village,' as he sometimes calls it, primarily from California, that has supported him throughout a journey that taken him from the Bay Area to Bozeman and back a couple of times, through many great times and some difficulties, and to Montana State University's Spring Commencement Ceremony Friday afternoon.
"He's a sharp guy," says Montana State head football coach Brent Vigen, "but he's had to work at school. When you throw his first couple of years into it, starting here and then going to a junior college, I think he's definitely had to put in the work to get to this point. And I know he's really excited about graduating and the value of that degree, and I know that it's not only important to him but his family."
His family means everything to Reed, but for all those that will congregate on the MSU campus this weekend to watch him graduate it will be one who isn't there that has helped defines Reed's growth into adulthood. "Toni Reed was a large man," says Joshua Taufalele, a former Bobcat offensive line coach and Reed's cousin, who began the recruitment process before relocating to Boise, Idaho. "(JT is) doing this to make his family proud, and when I say his family I mean his mom and especially his dad, who isn't here to see it."
Toni Reed passed away the day after Christmas when JT was 10 years old. "JT has been the man of the family," Taufalele said, "since he was 10 years of age, no one can fathom that, so for him to fulfill this dream of his father, his mother, is very special."
JT Reed calls his relationship with Taufalele "like a little brother." For a time their families lived together in a relative's home, and when Reed's football career made him a recruitable offensive lineman Taufalele took notice. "No. 1, I knew how much the kid loves football," he said. "His tape was raw in terms of fundamentals and (skill), but he demonstrated he was tough and smart and athletic and I figured he would grow because of his dad's size. Army (Brian Armstrong, who both preceded and succeeded Taufalele as MSU's offensive line coach) finished the recruiting process."
Reed's path to Worthington Arena for Friday afternoon's ceremony, though, wasn't straight. "He got Covid like his first week here," Armstrong said of Reed's early time at MSU in the fall of 2020, "so he basically got banished to (Family Housing) all by himself. I just felt terrible for the kid."
So Armstrong implemented a simple plan to keep Reed engaged and active. "I picked him up every afternoon when he got feeling a little better and I'd take him out the woods and I'd make him hike. He always acted like he was happy to go do something, but I know he hated it."
Nature walks aside, Reed credits Armstrong for helping him make it though those early difficulties. "Coach Army helped me a lot," Reed said, citing extra time at study tables and regular monitoring. "He would have weekly (academic) check-ins, sometimes it would be every day, and he just wouldn't let me slip. He believed in me. On the football field I (had confidence), but in school, that's where I didn't. Coach Army played a huge role in showing me, 'Hey, you're not stupid. You can do this.' I think he's the first person who made me believe that and made sure that I did take school seriously."
After the fall semester in 2020, Reed stayed near his home in San Jose and enrolled at the College of San Mateo. A year in the junior college ranks, Reed said, "forced me to grow up."
The football experience was positive, Reed said, but the year involved rigors. "Football-wise it's probably one of my favorite experiences of my career, not better than here, obviously, but I loved JUCO. It teaches you a lot of different things."
High on that list was structure and time management. "I played football and did school (on-line) and had to have a full time job. I worked at Chik-fil-A, and my schedule was the same as here. I'd get up at like 5 or 5:30, and San Mateo wasn't far from San Jose but with traffic it was like an hour drive, and then on the way back sometimes it would take two hours. So I'd get there, lift, school, practice in the afternoon, then race back and go to work."
Continued academic progress, an impressive 2021 season, and Armstrong's urging rekindled the mutual interest between Reed and the Bobcat football program. "Brian had a chance to work with him and really thought that he had the makings of a good offensive lineman," said Vigen, who arrived at MSU in February, 2021. "He was on our radar to bring him back. His season of playing at San Mateo was good, we had a chance to watch that, and it was just a matter of getting him back here in January of '22. Because of (his previous semester at MSU) integrating back into the program was pretty seamless."
Reed eventually landed a role as starting guard in 2022, earning Third Team All-Big Sky honors and playing in 13 of MSU's 14 games. But then the injuries started, costing him all but one game in 2023 and the first three games of 2024. Once he returned he played 11 of 12 games and performed well.
While Reed's academic major has led him to study the U.S. health care system, he could just as easily have produced a capstone project detailing change as life's only constant. He has played for two head coaches at Montana State, and welcomed his third different offensive line coach this spring.
Matt Smith sees in Reed the same qualities as his predecessors. "He's a great, great guy in the (offensive line) room," said Smith, who also worked with Armstrong at Fresno State. "I love coaching him. He just works his tail off, which is awesome. The good thing about JT is he's played a good amount of football and he's had his struggles, so I think he has a good appreciation for the game and what it means to him, and he loves it a lot. He's a smart football player."
Reed has taken the changes over his five-plus years at MSU in stride – "I think it all goes back to how you treat life, and I think being comfortable isn't good," he says – but there was one new element he found harder adapting to than anything else. "I remember thinking, 'What are we doing?'" Reed says of his first taste of Vigen's double-rep practice system that utilizes twice the number of plays in the normal amount of time. "'Like, this isn't football, this is hell.' It was definitely hard, but I got used to it fast."
The oldest player in MSU's current offensive line room, Reed is also the last original member of the Don Joy Mafia. That is the name the group chose for itself several years ago honoring the brand of knee brace the group dons which embodies the group's leading characteristics – "Family, toughness, willingness to do the small things," Reed said. "As soon as you sign here, as soon as you commit here to play O-line, you have to live by that standard, whether that be here, whether that be at home, in the classroom, at work, wherever it may be. We're one clique, a big band of brothers."
Family is a common theme for Reed. He grew up in a household with one brother and five sisters and said that kind of diversity helped prepare him for an offensive line position group with players from more than 10 different states during his time. "It was a loud household, mercy," he said. "Loud. And the different smells."
He began playing football when he was five but also loved basketball, and his father introduced him to rugby. He played on a U12 team when he was nine because of his size. "Which honestly kind of sucked," he says with a laugh.
With Taufalele serving has his entry point into college football, Reed has thrived in Bozeman. "You can map out your plan," Taufalele said, "but the big man above will laugh at that. He has the way for everyone. During recruiting, Coach (Jeff) Choate (Montana State's head coach at the time) told him, 'Don't find a school, find a home.' Bozeman's been the place that gave him a chance, the place where he's been pushed outside his comfort zone and now he continues to elevate his ceiling. Bozeman's been everything JT has needed in this chapter of his life."
Montana State has also offered Reed a proving ground academically. "I think there's definitely been times I didn't think I was going to make it academically," he said. "My freshman year, my sophomore year, it was tough. Ever since then, I've been on a good track. Jamie (Rizzuto, MSU's Associate Athletic Director for Student Services) and the staff in the AC (Academic Center) have helped me so much. Just being there, having the AC to study in, because if I go home, I'll play video games. So I have to go sit in the AC by myself, no music, just do homework. That's been very beneficial and, honestly, them having their academic meetings with the coaches and not sugarcoating my work has been great."
On the field, Reed and the Bobcat coaching staff looks forward to a healthy 2025 season from Reed. He can play either guard spot, and has worked on snapping. "He has that experience to be able to play both center and guard," Smith said. "Being able to work on (snapping) this spring was crucial. He's one of the alphas in the (offensive line) room. The guys look up to him. He's the guy we want to count on this fall."
The people that have seen him along the journey at Montana State are proud of him. "He's going to graduate from here," Vigen said, "and his growth through a lot of tough times and setbacks really transformed him into a very mature, appreciative, well-spoken leader."
Plenty of people who appreciate and look up to Reed will be in Worthington Arena on Friday when he makes the walk across the stage, coming out the other side as his immediate family's first college graduate. Taufalele looks forward to being there and cheering him on.
"He's been through so much," Taufalele said, "and it means so much to his family. We can't be more proud of him."
#GoCatsGo
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