Terrapins’ Reynolds trades joystick for lacrosse stick

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Jeff Reynolds spent a lot of time playing guitar and video games after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in Maryland’s second game last season.

He became a pro at Call of Duty and Halo.

But this year, he still finds time for some video games, but he hasn’t touched the guitar.

“I haven’t been playing much recently. I got out of it,” Reynolds said. “I forgot how to do a lot of things.”

That’s because the junior midfielder is back on the lacrosse field, where he hasn’t forgotten how to do any of the things that had him slated to receive significant playing time last year.

After surgery this past spring, Reynolds came back to the team’s fall workouts and ran 40 yards in 4.6 seconds — the statistical evidence to back up the comparisons to a thoroughbred made by Maryland coach Dave Cottle.

“He stuck out athletically,” Cottle said. “We just had to get him to compete on a daily, weekly basis. As he’s gotten older, he’s gotten much better at that. He’s competing against himself. When he goes against anybody else, he beats them.”

In high school, Reynolds beat now-roommate Will Dalton in an MIAA A Conference Tournament playoff game, when Reynolds played for Calvert Hall and Dalton at St. Mary’s. Dalton hated Reynolds when the two came to Maryland.

“I wasn’t best friends with him when I came in here, just for that reason,” Dalton said. “Ever since then, we’ve head-butted a little bit, but we’re best friends on and off the field.”

Reynolds also played football at Calvert Hall, and his tough-guy mentality has helped him overcome a devastating injury.

“I haven’t played in a year, so the muscles I haven’t used are killing me right now,” Reynolds said. “I take it easy when I can. I’m trying to get through this part. I just feel like an old man with these legs.”

Reynolds had two assists in an 11-6 season-opening win over Bellarmine last February before suffering the season-ending injury. Reynolds, who received a medical redshirt, will play short-stick defensive midfield this spring.

Cottle thinks it will be a tough comeback for Reynolds, who is expected to some faceoffs and guard on of the opposition’s best players as a key cog on a suffocating defense.

“Going into the surgery, he was great shape. He never let himself get carried away,” Terrapins senior defender Joe Cinosky said. “Right now he’s probably the same as he was when he left. A little more cocky, maybe, but definitely the same as he was.”

swelsh@baltimoreexaminer.com