Getting to Know Izell Reese
November 10th, 2008 - byLast week NCSA Educational Speaker and former Dallas Cowboy, Izell Reese, had a chance to return to his home high school to help potential recruits learn some of the lessons he learned from going through the recruiting process. Izell learned these lessons the hard way when he was forced to walk-on at UAB after being overlooked by virtually every college program. He sat down with his hometown paper to share his experience.
“I want to get the kids from the Wiregrass more exposure,” Reese said.
As a high school star at Northview, Reese received letters of interest from many colleges.
“I put some letters on the wall and others in a shoe box under my bed,” Reese said. “Guess which ones made the wall? 
Auburn, Alabama, LSU, Georgia Tech.
“I thought it was only a matter of time that coaches would be knocking on my door. I was in the Honor Society. I took academics very seriously. I was a standout player.
“Guess what? There wasn’t a scholarship for me.”
Reese points out that the real opportunities for him rested in the “shoe box under my bed.”
That was a big part of his message to the students.
“What they see on ESPN is the Top 25 teams,” Reese said. “There’s over a million kids playing high school football across the nation. Only about one percent get a scholarship to a Division I school.”
After not receiving a scholarship offer following his successful high school career, Reese decided to walk-on at UAB, which at the time participated as a Division II football program.
Willard Whitcomb was the Northview coach when Reese graduated in 1993, and Whitcomb’s son, John, was a quarterback for the Blazers.
“I was considering going into the military,” Reese said before giving UAB a try.
Once he got back on the football field, Reese knew he belonged.
“The first thing I thought about is there were a lot of guys I played with or against in high school that could have played college football,” Reese said. “I led the team in interceptions and didn’t get a dime (school funding) for it.”
During his career at UAB, the program went from Division II to Division I-AA to Division I-A status.
Reese eventually was put on scholarship and became the second player in the school’s history to be selected in the NFL Draft when the Dallas Cowboys picked him in the sixth round in 1998. He spent seven years in the NFL, playing for Dallas, Denver and Buffalo before retiring in 2005.
“My personal story is a Cinderella story,” Reese said. “It doesn’t happen very often.”
Which is why Reese is so passionate about providing information, exposure and opportunities for others.
“When I look back, I shouldn’t have been a walk-on in college,” Reese said. “Don’t have tunnel vision and just focus on the big-time programs.”
Reese finished his speech Wednesday night with encouraging words.
“I’m here to tell each and every one of you, you can live out your dreams,” Reese said.
