A crowd of nearly 150 helped Watkins Memorial High School senior Reno Reda celebrate national signing day on Feb. 1 when he signed a letter of intent to play football at Kent State University.

The well-wishers assembled in the school’s auditorium for the ceremony included family members, teammates from the Warriors' football and baseball teams, coaches and 24 other guests of Reda’s choosing.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Reda is expected to play on the offensive line for the Golden Flashes, whose recruiting class also includes Pickerington Central defensive lineman Jake Kincaid and DeSales wide receiver Charles Chandler. Kent State, which signed 25 players overall, finished 5-7 last season but won four of its final five games.

Reda, who also was recruited by Division I schools in baseball, made third-team all-state and first-team all-district in Division II last fall as the Warriors finished 4-6.

He is the first football player from Watkins Memorial to sign with an NCAA Football Subdivision (formerly Division I) college since quarterback A.J. Sager in 1983. Sager went on to play football at Toledo from 1983-86 and baseball from 1987-88 before spending five seasons in the major leagues during the 1990s.