NFL draft: St. Joseph’s Prep grad John Reid one of three Penn State players taken on Day 3

John Reid attended a summer camp at Penn State in 2013, and though it wasn’t his first visit to Happy Valley, the young player from St. Joseph’s Prep impressed coach Bill O’Brien enough that he would become a much-sought-after recruit.

O’Brien would leave for the NFL after that season, and new head coach James Franklin would get Reid’s name on a letter of intent for the Class of 2015. But Reid received a chance to reunite with O’Brien on Saturday, when the Houston Texans made him a fourth-round pick in the NFL Draft.

For O’Brien, who is entering his seventh season with the Texans, it marked the first time that he drafted a Penn State player.

“I had a few conversations with him when I was being recruited, just when I was on campus, and things like that,” Reid said in a Zoom call with Houston media. “I just heard all the respect the players had for him. There were still a lot of players there that had been coached by him when I came in as a freshman. All they ever spoke about was the respect that he had for all the players and how much they liked having him as a coach.”

Reid was one of three Penn State players chosen on the final day of the NFL Draft. Linebacker Cam Brown went in the sixth round (No. 183 overall) to the New York Giants, and defensive tackle Robert Windsor was taken 10 picks later in the same round by the Indianapolis Colts.

The Nittany Lions had two players selected Friday in the second round – defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (No. 38) by the Carolina Panthers and wide receiver-kick returner KJ Hamler (No. 46) by the Denver Broncos.

Quarterback Tommy Stevens, who played at Penn State for three seasons before moving to Mississippi State as a graduate transfer, was a seventh-round pick of the New Orleans Saints.

The 5-foot-10, 187-pound Reid, who was the No. 141 overall selection, had his best season at Penn State in 2019, two years after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He tied for the team lead with eight pass breakups and returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown.

Reid impressed at the NFL Combine with a 4.49-second clocking in the 40-yard dash and was timed at 3.97 seconds in the shuttle, fastest of any participant. The Mount Laurel resident, who earned his degree in data sciences in December, also is known as a student of the game, spending long hours in the film room.

“I take a lot of pride in my preparation,” he said. “I think at the next level it’s going to be great to have people in the secondary that have played a ton of years that I could learn a lot from. I’m going to make sure that I try to take as much knowledge as I can from them as soon as I get there to kind of speed up my process.”

The 6-5, 233-pound Brown enjoyed his best season last year, finishing third on the team with 72 tackles in addition to 5½ tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries, and earning honorable mention All-Big Ten. He posted a pair of 10-tackle games, against Michigan and Buffalo.

Brown impressed scouts at the combine with a 4.72-second 40-yard dash.

The 6-5, 290-pound Windsor, a third-team All-Big Ten player last year, made strong improvement from his arrival on campus in 2015 to his senior season. He led the Nittany Lions with eight quarterback hurries to go with five tackles for loss and 40 total tackles. He started all 26 of Penn State’s games his last two seasons.