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Basketball prompts DeLaSalle's Reid Travis to forego football

By Jim Paulsen, Star Tribune, 08/15/13, 12:56PM CDT

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The highly coveted senior recruit, recovering from a foot injury, decided not to play this fall with the Islanders.


Reid Travis pulled down a rebound against Grand Rapids' Mike Spoden last season.

Nine months of nearly non-stop basketball has forced DeLaSalle senior Reid Travis to forego his final season of high school football while he gives his body a chance to heal.

Travis, a 6-foot-7 forward/center who is consistently ranked among the top 50 senior basketball recruits in the country, led the Islanders to the Class 3A state championship in March, then spent most of the spring and summer playing in AAU tournaments across the country with his Howard Pulley club team.

“When the state tournament was over, he started with Howard Pulley team the next day,” his father, Nate Travis, said. “He hasn’t had the chance to rest his body for football.”

Reid recently returned from a tournament in Brooklyn with a walking boot on his foot, which, according to his father, is strictly precautionary. “He tweaked something. He’s in a boot for a couple of weeks to keep from putting any real pressure on it. It should take care of itself.”

Nate Travis added that the decision to keep Reid out of football this fall was a difficult one.

“If the football season was two months away, or even one month away, he would probably play,” he said. “But the season was right in front of him and we needed to make a decision.”

Travis played quarterback for the Islanders last year but was projected as a tight end this fall. With his size and athleticism, Division I football programs would likely have come calling, said DeLaSalle football coach Sean McMenomy. He had already been offered football scholarships by a handful of schools, Minnesota among them.

“With his skills, he’s the type of athlete who could have a 10-plus year career in the NFL,” McMenomy said. “It’s obviously a loss for us, with the leadership and the work ethic he brings, but we knew this was a possibility. We’ve got a great team going forward and we’ll take it in stride. We’re still big fans of his.

Travis is expected to spend the fall recuperating from the basketball-related grind and take official basketball recruiting visits. Where, however, has not been determined. He took one of his five official visits to Gonzaga in July.

“He has a whiteboard in his room with colleges on it,” Nate Travis said. “It has way more colleges than the number of visits he can take, so we’ll have to start paring it down.”

 

Jim Paulsen • 612-673-7737

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