Published: June 26, 2008 11:46 pm            

Former ISU QB gets back to Amarillo

TERRE HAUTE — Once upon a time, Indiana State had a winning football season.

That happened back in 1996, before this writer had even thought about moving to Terre Haute to attend Indiana State.

Moving on to memories I was here to witness ...

In 2002, the Sycamores’ 5-7 record was their best since going 5-6 in 1998.

Behind honorable-mention All-America quarterback Julian Reese and fleet-footed Soso Dede at running back, coach Tim McGuire’s team came within a 20-12 loss to Illinois State in the season finale of finishing with a .500 record.

Despite the season-closing loss, the program seemed to be capable of building on that season.

Things have obviously turned sour for the Sycamores, who have lost 31 of their last 32 games, including last year’s 0-11 record.

The signing of highly touted quarterback prospect Calvin Schmidtke earlier this week has given the Sycamores that rare recruit that people around town can talk about. And hopefully the numbers fans talk about next year are a 60-plus completion percentage and not Schmidtke’s blood-alcohol content after another off-field incident.

More importantly, the 15th-rated quarterback in this year’s high school class, according to scout.com, could help make the Sycamores a winner sooner than we previously thought.

“That’s great to get a guy like that,” said the aforementioned Reese when hearing the news Thursday.

Reese is currently in the middle of an outstanding individual season for the Amarillo Dusters of arenafootball2. He plans to make a trip to Terre Haute for homecoming this fall. Reese said he former teammates such as wide receiver Chris Lewis have discussed making their first homecoming trip.

The new coaching staff is the main reason for Reese’s optimism for his alma mater.

“I’m real excited, especially with coach [Shannon] Jackson coming back [as defensive coordinator],” Reese said. “He’s a guy who played there; I was real excited when I saw that. Plus he’s a great guy, and he’s from Fort Wayne.”

Reese is also from Fort Wayne, a city that will have a chartered bus full of Reese’s family and friends making the long trek to Amarillo, Texas, next month.

Reese will celebrate his 27th birthday on July 23 and will marry Erica Mims three days later. Mims, a middle school teacher and high school track coach, was introduced to Reese at church and is the sister of one of Reese’s teammates during his first stint in Amarillo.

Reese led the Dusters to a championship in the Intense Football League in his first season in 2004 as the multi-talented quarterback ravaged defenses with his running and throwing ability. The Amarillo squad was invited to join Arena2 the following season, and Reese moved on to another Arena2 team.

This season, Reese is trying to help the Dusters scramble into the playoffs. Amarillo takes a 5-7 record into Saturday’s home game against defending league champion Tulsa.

The Dusters got off to a 3-1 start, but suffered a four-game losing streak midway through the season.

Reese has run for 200 yards and two touchdowns, while passing for 2,071 yards and 41 touchdowns.

“The individual stuff is good, but I’m a team guy. We should have more wins,” Reese said. “We’re trying to regain that momentum that we had early on the season.”

Reese is hoping to work his way up to the Arena Football League. Two torn ACLs in his left knee in the past two years have proved costly to Reese’s career progress.

But he loves the arena-style game.

“It’s a fast-paced game, high-scoring, it goes fast, you get to throw the ball a lot,” he said. “For me, I’m a little bit of a runner. If they get me out of the box, I can make a couple plays with my feet.”

Reese is also pondering the possibility of entering the coaching business. For now, he has started a recruiting business called Future College Athlete Association. Log on to www.fcaarecruiting.com or e-mail Reese at fcaa13@hotmail.com.

Craig Pearson can be reached by e-mail at craig.pearson@tribstar.com or by phone at (812) 231-4356.

        

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