Relentless Faith: The Donte Reed Story

On the turf inside Angel of the Winds Arena, Donte Reed moves with a purpose that feels bigger than the game itself. Number 44 for the Washington Wolfpack in the AF1, he plays defensive line and linebacker like a man who has already stared down far greater stakes than a first-down marker. He flies downhill, reads the play in real time, and hunts the ball with a motor that never idles.

In his first professional game last season against the Salina Liberty, on his birthday, he came away with an interception. It was the first of many impact plays. The Wolfpack brought him back for 2026 because that kind of immediate impact is rare, and because the man behind the helmet brings something even rarer: a quiet, unshakable conviction that football is simply the platform God gave him to serve others.

Roots In Chicago

Reed’s story doesn’t begin on a highlight reel. It begins in Chicago Heights, where his mother raised him and his two sisters with discipline wrapped in love. He didn’t start with football. In fact, basketball came first. Then his mom put him into football, and the three-sport life began. He was participating in football, wrestling, and track.

He also worked 20-plus hours a week as a pharmacy tech at Walgreens starting at 16. That job, layered on top of sports and school, taught him something simple but profound.

“Working 20-plus hours a week and then going to football, then going to wrestling, then going to track, it just developed me to be disciplined,” Reed said. “More disciplined and understanding that everything needs to happen a certain way, and when things go out of whack you gotta be able to adjust on the fly. You can’t make excuses in life. You gotta be persistent in every aspect of life because not everybody gets the opportunity you have. Be grateful and let God handle things that you can’t control.”

High School Awakening

The moment everything clicked came in a high school rival game against Thornton Fractional South at T.F. North. Reed, listed around 195–205 pounds and 6 feet tall, playing defensive end, put up three sacks and a scoop-and-score. Chasing down bigger, higher-rated prospects that day, he realized the stars and rankings meant nothing.

“It matters how you play that day,” he reflected. “You gotta be the best, and that’s how I see life. You’ve got to continue to be your best every single day. Yesterday’s already gone, and you’ve got today to take care of business.”

He was a team captain, earned all-state recognition in wrestling and track (shot put, discus, and hurdles), and carried that multi-sport discipline forward. Balancing everything taught him early lessons in resilience and perspective.

“It taught me that ain’t nothing in life that I can’t do that God has placed the strength in me to do,” Reed said. “Like, I can do all things through Christ. Everyone loves Philippians 4:13, but that’s not just getting things done. That’s serving people. That’s knowing when to be quiet. That’s knowing when to step up. That’s knowing your place in life and knowing where God needs you most to serve.”

Reed's College Journey

Reed started his collegiate career at Wayne State University in the GLIAC, a solid Division II program. There he won the Randy Guzowski Award for leadership and exemplary citizenship, made multiple academic honor rolls, and served on the Student-Athlete Leadership Council.

He transferred to Mississippi Valley State in the SWAC for his senior year, an HBCU experience that lit something inside him. The culture, the band on fourth-and-long, playing on national television, and competing against different schemes and skill levels. It all felt like coming home to a larger purpose.

“My senior year of college ball, I had 44 tackles and five sacks, and I ended up getting selected for the HBCU Legacy Bowl,” Reed said. “It was great. The culture was great. The atmosphere was great. It made you wanna play there because once you got the band rocking on fourth-and-long, it’s everything about it. I just loved it.”

Stepping Into The Pros

The professional road was never straight. He ran pro days at Jackson State and with the Chicago Bears at Halas Hall. He drove from his base in Alabama to a Saskatchewan Roughriders workout in Atlanta, only to pull his hamstring badly enough that walking straight hurt. He wasn’t going to give up, though. 

“You just have to stay the course, be happy, find joy in it, and understand that it ain’t always gonna be sunshine and rainbows,” Reed said. “You gotta keep getting back up. You fall seven times, you get up eight. That’s what it’s all about.”

Later, his agent called about arena football. Reed flew out, played his first pro game on his birthday against the Salina Liberty, and made plays immediately, including an interception. The speed of arena football suited him with a shorter field, faster pace, and constant downhill responsibility.

“Every play you just gotta be around the ball,” he explains. “You never know when it could pop out. I think it’s more pride in not letting the other team score because it’s a shorter field and you don’t have that many opportunities.”

He plays with pride in stopping the other team from scoring, not just in his own stats. He returned for the 2026 season and has been a steady presence on the defensive front.

Anchored By Faith

What carries him through every chapter, including the high school grind, college transfer, hamstring injury, and the leap to pro ball, is his faith. That faith was forged in fire.

In 2021, as a 19-year-old beach attendant in Fort Morgan, Alabama, Reed jumped into the Gulf of Mexico to save two people from drowning. He swam for hours through 10- to 12-foot waves and aggressive tides, reached critical condition, spent four days in the ICU, and helped carry the body of Deputy Bill Smith, the rescuer who suffered a fatal heart attack while saving him. He returned stronger, not through his own power, but through prayer, family, and the conviction that his life had purpose beyond himself.

He talks openly about putting everything in God’s hands while still working relentlessly.

“You can have faith,” Reed said, “But you gotta work as well. It’s faith that works faith.” That same faith fuels his approach to the game and life. A relentless pursuit paired with trust in the process.

Life Off The Field

Off the field, Reed stays grounded the same way he plays. By serving. He works as a personal trainer, helping everyday people build discipline and hit real-life goals. He understands that real-world clients have five-year plans and need both mental and physical habits to achieve them.

He and his wife (who is studying clinical behavior and art therapy while creating portraits) connect with people wherever they go. Whether in the grocery store vegetable aisle or after games, Reed listens and uplifts.

He finds joy in all things and encourages others to do the same. Reed has multiple interests outside of football. He loves longboarding (he has a 42-inch board back in Alabama), solves Rubik’s cubes (he has a 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4), and for laughs watches King of Queens. He even has a goal of one day competing in the Olympics in shot put or discus.

Leading The Wolfpack

Coach JR Wells has given the Wolfpack a culture of high standards and relentless consistency. Reed, now a leader and captain on the team, fits perfectly. The three things they can always control, effort, attitude, discipline, are the same three that have carried him from Chicago to Mississippi to Washington state.

“It’s not like, ‘Oh, I got to,’” he says of playing. “It’s like, ‘I get to.’ It’s a privilege. You wake up with all your limbs and your heart beating. Go get it.”

He’s enjoyed his time with the Wolfpack, the community, and connecting with elementary school kids that the team visits.

“We’re more than just football players,” he says. “It’s just heartwarming to have that player connection with the fans.”

I met Donte Reed this past weekend in Minnesota as the Wolfpack traveled to take on the Monsters. He took time to sign a football for my nine-year-old nephew and six-year-old niece. He took a photo with them and truly showed he loves the connection to the fans. Even when I was ready to jump in and interview him for this article, before we started, I asked if he had any questions. 

“Just one,” Reed said. “How’s your day going so far?”

Many players can talk the talk. Reed walks the walk.

A Legacy Of Uplift

Years from now, when the cleats are hung up, I asked Donte Reed how he hopes people remember him. 

“That he was an energetic, uplifting, God-fearing man who was relentless and loved adversity because he knew the solution always came after it,” he said without hesitation.

On the field, he’s #44 chasing the ball with joy. Off it, he’s the same man who once swam into rough waters to save strangers, still running toward whatever needs doing, still trusting the process, and still showing that we are all capable of far more than we imagine when faith and work walk together.

That’s the Donte Reed story. Not just football. A life lived with purpose. A life serving those around him and uplifting everyone he can.