Last year former Hahnville High School standout running back Darius Reynaud was hoping some NFL team would give him another shot to play pro football.
This season the Tennessee Titans are ecstatic they gave him that opportunity and that he made the most of it.
In the season finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Reynaud tied an NFL record by returning two punts for scores. He became the 13th player in NFL history to do so and he became the first player in Tennessee Titans history to record that mark.
Reynaud returned punts of 69 and 81 yards for scores in the Titan’s 38-20 victory over the Jaguars.
He also set a franchise record by returning three punts for 160 yards – a franchise best in yardage in one game – for an average of 53.3 yards per return against Jacksonville.
The former West Virginia University wide receiver returned 31 punts for an average of 13.2 yards during the 2012 season. He also averaged 23.4 yards per return on 53 kickoffs in 2012 and he brought one back 105 yards for a touchdown against the Detroit Lions in Week 3, which was a franchise record.
“It just goes to show what kind of heart this young man has to go through some adversity during his career and still play with such a great attitude and fire,” said Titans head coach Mike Munchak. “The NFL has a commercial about how there are about 1,800 players in the league and how they got here and all of them are different. Darius is one of those unique guys. Special teams are important in this league and he had some memorable moments for us this year.”
Reynaud had never returned a punt for a touchdown during his career, but against the Jaguars he ran two for touchdowns in back-to-back attempts Sunday afternoon.
“Knowing where I was last season and where I came from, I never thought this would happen,” Reynaud said. “I’m just glad it happened the last game of the season just to give our fans something to look forward to next year.”
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